Having transmigrated into a book, who would still want to be a secondary wife?

"These bastards, I wish I could just chop them to pieces! They all deserve divine retribution!"

"I really can't swallow this insult anymore. The people are starving, and it's one thing for them to raise grain prices, but to actually mock them is just outrageous!"

From a great distance, Qi Wu and Ruan Cheng's angry voices could be heard.

The two of them had left peacefully before, but now they were both red-faced and furious!

Upon hearing the noise, Song Ruozhen went outside and, after some questioning, learned that while they were transporting food to the soup kitchen, they had witnessed a wealthy merchant from Pingyang City bullying people.

Seeing that the people were starving to death, they begged them for a bite to eat. Instead, the man threw the steamed bun in his hand on the ground and stomped on it twice before finally offering it to them as a favor.

This is clearly an insult!

When Qi Wu saw this, he rushed up and beat the man up. If it weren't for the fact that it was in public and he was afraid of frightening the people, he would have killed him on the spot!

"What about my father?" Song Ruozhen couldn't help but ask.

Qi Wu and Ruan Cheng were so angry, it's easy to imagine that her father and third brother were also unable to swallow their anger.

“If General Song hadn’t stopped him, he would have killed the man,” Ruan Cheng said.

In fact, among them, the general was the most rational and had the best temper; at least his patience was much stronger than theirs.

Song Ruozhen understood immediately. As expected of a businessman, her father's temperament was not as straightforward as that of a military general. He knew better how to handle things in the best way.

They were already planning to drive up grain prices anyway, so there was no need to confront these guys for the time being. It wouldn't be too late to take action after a few more days.

With the increase in grain, the porridge distributed was no longer just scattered grains of rice like before. People rushed to grab it, afraid that if they were a step too late, there wouldn't be any left.

Upon seeing this, everyone realized just how staggering the number of starving people in Pingyang City was.

Even though the ship carried a lot of goods, it couldn't compensate for the large number of people on board, so the cargo was quickly depleted.

"Now... there's not much left, I'm afraid it won't last until tomorrow. We should have been more frugal yesterday."

Zhou Li sighed deeply. Lately, all he could do was sigh; he was truly powerless.

Song Lin was calculating that Song Jingshen should be arriving soon, given his speed, but he hadn't received any news yet and didn't know the exact time.

Seeing everyone's anxious expressions, Song Ruozhen smiled slightly, "Since they're all gone, then let's buy some!"

Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned. Buy?

Will you buy it with your own money?

The prices in Pingyang City are incredibly high right now, not to mention how much silver it would cost to buy so much grain.

"I'm afraid that won't work; it's far too expensive," Zhou Li said hastily. Even if the Song family was wealthy, they couldn't possibly use their own money to help the imperial court with disaster relief, could they?

That's no small sum!

Song Lin did want to help the people in the city, but the price of grain was extremely high. Even if they had money on them, they hadn't brought the entire Song family fortune with them, so it wouldn't last long.

“Who said they used my money? They used the ill-gotten gains that Magistrate Yang plundered from the people to buy it, which is just right to return it to the people,” Song Ruozhen said with a light laugh.

The group exchanged bewildered glances, a moment of confusion in their eyes, unsure of the meaning behind those words.

“I looked around here yesterday and found that Magistrate Yang had hidden all the ill-gotten gains he had amassed in the courtyard. He had them dug up overnight.”

"Hidden here?" Song Lin's eyes lit up; he hadn't expected his daughter to have such abilities!

Zhou Li was even more surprised. He had actually searched the mansion, but he had searched everywhere he could think of and still couldn't find where it was hidden. He assumed that Madam Yang had taken it all with her when she left.

"This is no small amount; it can buy a lot of grain."

Song Ruozhen smiled slightly, then lowered her voice and said to Song Lin, "Find someone you like and buy a small amount of grain. When Third Brother arrives, buy all of Third Brother's grain!"

"Zhen'er is smart!" Song Lin smiled broadly; his daughter was truly exceptional!

Soon, everyone saw the treasure buried underground in the garden behind.

To be precise, no one knew that there was a secret room hidden here!

Over the years, Magistrate Yang has been secretly hiding silver underground through a secret room.

Song Ruozhen, on the other hand, directly calculated that the silver was underground. Instead of searching for the secret passage, she ordered her men to dig underground.

At first, the people who started digging found it very strange, not understanding why they were digging in the ground. But after digging for a while, they realized that the ground below was hard and something was wrong. Later, they had to chisel it open.

Looking at the boxes of gold and silver jewelry, everyone couldn't help but gasp.

"How much money has this scoundrel plundered from the people? A mere county magistrate has so much silver!"

"No wonder Pingyang City has always been so poor. All the people's money has gone into his pocket. I'm afraid a lot of the imperial court's disaster relief funds are also here!"

As everyone was discussing it, Song Ruozhen and Song Lin exchanged a glance. Magistrate Yang was a member of the Ling family.

If he can embezzle so much silver, then the Ling family's wealth must be even more astonishing.

After all, how can making money in business be faster than stealing?

Magistrate Yang knows so many secrets; even if Song Lin doesn't kill him, the Ling family won't spare his life.

He... is definitely going to die!

"With so much silver, even if grain prices are high, we can buy quite a lot."

Although everyone was shocked, they were mostly relieved. With this sum of money, they no longer needed to worry about money for the time being.

Song Zhiyu originally planned to go out and buy food, but Song Ruozhen stopped him.

"Third brother, just spread the word that the government is willing to buy grain at a high price, and let them come with sincerity."

Upon hearing this, Song Zhiyu recalled the smug looks of those guys before and couldn't help but say, "Fifth sister, the magistrate of Pingyang City is not here now. Although Father is a general, he doesn't really care about Pingyang City."

These guys are all cunning and shrewd; it's unlikely they'll voluntarily lower the price this way.

"It's alright. There's always someone who's the first to try something new. They may seem to be working together, but in reality, driven by self-interest, they're just a loose bunch that will crumble at the slightest provocation."

Song Ruozhen remained calm. She was a profit-driven person by nature. The business world was like a battlefield, so what was the point of talking about loyalty?

She had already asked Bai Zhi to find out the situation. These guys were just taking advantage of Zhou Li's easy access to food. They thought that if they couldn't buy food, they would eventually have to take their food, so they joined forces to refuse to lower the price.

Clearly, they are not easy to bully.

These guys have been struggling to sell their grain, so they're under a lot of pressure. They've been trying to raise the price to eight times the normal level, which has made it even harder to sell.

Actually, if the price were slightly lower, they could still sell them, just with less profit. Unlike now, when ordinary people can't afford them, they can't make any profit at all.