In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Shortly afterward, the donkey cart stopped in front of the Fuhu Boxing Gym.

The able-bodied men of Chenjia Village looked at the large houses with a mixture of envy and resentment.

"Damn it, the people in this county town live really well."

"Damn it, it's a pity I'm not from the county town."

"That young lady who just passed by was so fair-skinned. If I could marry a woman like her, I'd feel like I'd die happy."

"What are you daydreaming about! A woman from the county town is not someone a peasant like you can afford."

"I wish I could have been born in the county town!"

"..."

The young and middle-aged men sighed and lamented, regretting that they weren't from the county town.

Chen Dao jumped out of the car and said to the guards standing in front of the martial arts school, "Please inform Miss Li that Chen Dao, the chicken seller, is requesting an audience."

While they were talking, Chen Dao quietly slipped 20 copper coins into the guard's hand.

Chen Dao was quite savvy in social interactions. He hadn't given any money last time simply because he didn't have much. Now that he had some money, he naturally needed to bribe the guards, since he always needed them to notify Li Ying whenever he came here to sell chickens.

"Wait."

The guard who accepted the copper coins smiled and quickly went into the martial arts hall to inform Li Ying.

Before long, the guards and Li Ying returned together.

"Brother Chen, you're here again?"

Li Ying, the only daughter of the restaurant owner, didn't act superior at all. Instead, she smiled warmly and asked Chen Dao, "How many chickens did you bring this time?"

There are fourteen in total.

"So that's seven taels of silver? Wait a moment, I'll go get the money for you."

Soon, Li Ying took out seven taels of silver from the shop and handed it to Chen Dao.

After gesturing to the guards at the entrance to help carry the chicken coop inside, Li Ying couldn't help but ask curiously, "Brother Chen, where did you find these chickens?"

Chen Dao rolled his eyes and replied perfunctorily, "Our village is located at the foot of Cangmang Mountain, and these chickens were all caught from Cangmang Mountain."

"Cangmang Mountain?"

A look of awe flashed across Li Ying's face. The Cangmang Mountains stretched for thousands of miles and were not a safe place. Even martial artists dared not venture deep into them. Li Ying could hardly imagine how Chen Dao, a mere teenager, had mustered the courage to enter the mountains.

However, after glancing at Chen Da and the young men of Chenjia Village behind Chen Dao, Li Ying's face showed a look of sudden realization.

Chen Dao and his group likely entered the mountains in large groups to hunt, and most likely only hunted on the outskirts of the Cangmang Mountains; otherwise...

Given the extreme danger deep within the Cangmang Mountains, it's impossible for these people to return.

Thinking of this, Li Ying couldn't help but remind him, "Brother Chen, you should try to avoid going into the Cangmang Mountain as much as possible in the future! Money is good, but life is more important."

"I understand, thank you for reminding me, Ms. Li."

Chen Dao said casually, "Miss Li, we'll be leaving now. I'll come find you again if we get any more white-feathered chickens."

"Okay, bye."

Chen Dao and the others boarded the donkey cart and drove away at a leisurely pace. Li Ying watched their retreating figures and sighed softly.

It's not hard to tell from Chen Dao's answer that he didn't take her reminder seriously, but after thinking about it carefully, Li Ying felt relieved.

In these times of year, most people are starving. For villagers like Chen Dao outside the city, the harvest from hunting in the Cangmang Mountains may be their only source of income. If they give up this source of income, they will probably starve to death. Even if they don't starve to death, they will probably become like the refugees outside the city.

…………

…………

"Uncle Chen."

After moving a little further away from the Tiger-Taming Boxing Gym, Chen Si asked, "Where do we go next?"

"Go to the grain store in the East Market."

"Row."

The donkey cart stopped in front of the grain store in the East Market. Chen Si and the other able-bodied men were responsible for guarding the cart, while Chen Da and Chen Dao went inside to buy grain.

Upon entering the shop, the first thing that catches the eye is the wooden price tags stuck on various grains.

Rice: 20 yuan/jin (approximately 0.5 catties).

Millet: 17 yuan/jin.

Wheat flour: 15 yuan/jin.

Sorghum flour: 10 wen/jin.

Sorghum: 9 yuan/jin.

Bran powder: 5 yuan/jin.

Rice bran: 4 wen/jin.

"Grain prices have gone up again!"

Chen Da muttered to himself, his brows furrowed.

Last time I came, rice cost 15 coins, but now it costs 20 coins, a full 5 coins more.

Millet, wheat flour, sorghum, and other grains have also seen varying degrees of price increases.

"Sir, you are unaware of this!"

Hearing Chen Da's mutterings, a clerk at the grain store hurriedly explained, "Grain is becoming increasingly scarce in this city. Grain prices are soaring throughout the county. The price increase at our store is relatively small. If you don't believe me, you can go to other grain stores and see that their grain prices are much higher than ours."

After saying that, the waiter lowered his voice and said, "Sir, I suggest you buy more grain and store it. If nothing unexpected happens, the price of grain will continue to rise."

Upon hearing this, Chen Da's expression turned solemn. The fact that the city was short of food was no secret, but he did not know that the food shortage in the city would be to this extent.

What does 20 coins per kilogram of rice mean?

A few years ago, before the weather changed in Qingzhou, the price of rice was about 3 wen per jin (500 grams), but now it has soared to 20 wen, a full seven times the price...

"With such high grain prices, trouble is likely to break out soon."

Chen Dao pondered to himself that when the people in the city can't even afford to eat, chaos will follow.

Of course, these things are irrelevant to Chen Dao, and Chen Dao is too lazy to think about them.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Dao turned to Chen Da and said, "Uncle, let's use all the money we have to buy grain?"

"Listen to you."

Having received Chen Da's permission, Chen Dao went to find the manager of the grain store and began to talk to him.

About fifteen minutes later, Chen Dao and the shopkeeper agreed on the quantity of grain to be purchased: 100 catties of rice, 400 catties of sorghum flour, and 500 catties of rice bran, for a total value of seven taels of silver.

In addition, Chen Dao took out an extra 500 copper coins to buy 50 jin of sorghum flour as payment for the young and strong men in the village who helped him.

"Thank you sir."

The grain shop owner, beaming with joy, accepted Chen Dao's 7 taels of silver and 500 copper coins and hurriedly called on his shop assistants to help move the grain onto the donkey cart outside the shop.

"Chen Dahe and Daoge are so rich!"

Chen Sanshui, who had been standing guard beside the donkey cart, watched the grain shop assistants carrying grain back and forth, his envy evident in his eyes.

"Chen Da and Daoge'er bought rice and sorghum flour, right? They're really rich!"

Chen Cheng also looked envious. He hadn't eaten white rice in a long time, and seeing rice now made him miss the fragrant taste of white rice.

Not only Chen Cheng and Chen Sanshui, but the other young men also looked on with envy. Nowadays, almost every household in Chenjia Village eats bran flour as their staple food, and sorghum flour is only eaten occasionally. As for white rice...

That's something I wouldn't even dare to dream of.