PNB Chapter 129: Stockpiling Food
Chapter 129: Stockpiling Food
Xia Shengsheng did not underestimate Doctor Zhao.
Doctor Zhao bought the snake gall from Xia Shengsheng for 50,000 taels.
However, the money will be owed for the time being and it will take some time before it can be paid.
Xia Shengsheng believed in Doctor Zhao's character and didn't mind it.
"Doctor Zhao, in this case, can I make a small request?" Xia Shengsheng said.
Doctor Zhao held the snake gall in his hand and observed it lovingly. When he heard Xia Shengsheng speak, he suddenly felt a chill in his heart.
"What, what?"
Xia Shengsheng kept laughing, which made Doctor Zhao a little nervous. Looking at Doctor Zhao's expression, Xia Shengsheng couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"You, what are you thinking about now?"
Seeing that it was almost done, Xia Shengsheng stopped teasing Doctor Zhao and said directly: "Can you pay me directly in gold and silver when the time comes? I don't want silver notes."
Doctor Zhao finally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it was nothing serious.
"Could you please stop breathing so hard next time? I was scared by such a small thing."
But when I think about it, it doesn't seem to be a small matter. It would be a lot of money if it all cost money.
I'm afraid it will take ten carriages!
It's almost as much as what he had when he first came to Kaoshan Village.
With so much silver kept at home, you don't have to worry about thieves.
Doctor Zhao certainly doesn't need to worry about whether Xia Shengsheng is targeted by thieves or not.
For her, she thinks real money is the most cost-effective.
The silver notes I had in my hand were also exchanged for gold and silver and kept with Qiqi. If the world changes in the future, nothing will be as practical as real gold and silver.
After a busy autumn harvest, the whole village finally harvested all the grain from the fields.
Those who went to pay taxes mostly wanted to keep some coarse grains for their own consumption, and exchange the fine grains for silver as in previous years.
There is also one difference. Because the family's income has increased this year, a few pounds of fine grains will be left to cook porridge for the elderly and children at home.
Xia Shengsheng's family doesn't grow any other crops except corn in their fields.
Corn was not yet popular, and the imperial court would not accept this kind of grain that they had never even seen before.
Therefore, Xia Shengsheng could only pay some silver to the court per person.
And for those families in the village who want to sell grain.
Xia Shengsheng went to the village chief to discuss it.
I hope the village chief can organize the villagers to try not to sell the extra food they have.
It is easy to sell it now, but when there is a real food shortage in the future, if you want to buy it back, not only will the price increase, it may even become difficult to find even a pound.
Xia Shengsheng had already made the worst plan, which was that if the villagers insisted on selling their grain, she would buy the grain back from them.
When there is a real shortage of food, we can sell it to the villagers at the same price.
But the reality was not as bad as Xia Shengsheng thought.
After talking with Xia Shengsheng several times, Village Chief Ma discussed the issue with some older people in the village for a long time.
He also felt that selling grain now was not a good idea as the weather next year would be uncertain.
So he gathered all the people in the village and tried his best to persuade everyone.
Xia Shengsheng was naturally the first to support it.
In addition, some elders in the village also agreed with Village Chief Ma’s decision.
Almost all the villagers listened to what Village Chief Ma said.
Some even told their relatives who were not in the village to not sell this year's grain.
"We've made a lot of money this year, and I think we can harvest a lot of peppers from the fields.
If it is true as the village chief guessed, there might be some drought next year, which will affect the harvest, then it would be the best choice for us to save more food this year."
"That's right, it's right to listen to the village chief.
And didn’t Miss Xia also say that next year will not be a good year for the weather and harvest?
Sister Xia is smarter than all of us, and she also asked a lot from the businessman Mr. Tao before she suggested that we should not sell all of this year's grain.
Anyway, I will definitely trust the decision of the village chief and Sister Xia."
"Yes, my family also follows the village chief and Aunt Xia's family. My mother said that whatever Aunt Xia says is right."
Xia Shengsheng really didn't expect things to go so smoothly.
They don't need to waste their words at all, just explain the pros and cons of a matter clearly.
Several others took the lead and made it clear that they would not sell their own grain.
All the villagers agreed not to sell grain.
This is also good. At least if there is anything in the future, it will be easier to discuss.
Xia Shengsheng not only persuaded the villagers not to sell grain, but also bought up a lot of grain in the town and the provincial capital.
For example, there was plenty of white flour, potatoes and sweet potatoes that were commonly used in factories.
The warehouse at home and the warehouse in the factory are full.
The cellars were full.
Since the house was built, Xia Shengsheng would also renovate the cellar when he had time.
After several months, the cellar has taken shape according to Xia Shengsheng's idea.
But there are still many areas that need to be changed.
And with only Xia Shengsheng and Ye Chao, a few other children who are often at home, helping, it will definitely take longer.
The entrance to the cellar is in Yiyi and Shanshan's room.
In this way, if anything happens, the first thing to ensure is the safety of the two girls.
There was a large carpet at the entrance, and on the carpet was Shanshan's embroidery frame.
After going down to the cellar, you can only see a small space of less than ten square meters where grain is stored.
But Xia Shengsheng made some mechanisms, and only Xia Shengsheng and a few children knew the location of the mechanisms.
After opening the mechanism, another secret room will appear.
The space of this secret room is relatively large.
There are also various furnitures and all daily necessities inside.
After passing through the third level mechanism, Xia Shengsheng was preparing to dig a secret passage.
The secret passage will be dug directly to the back mountain, so that if both levels of the secret passage are discovered, there will be a chance to escape later.
It’s not fully built yet.
Whether it was a cellar or a secret passage, Xia Shengsheng had prepared perfect ventilation equipment.
In this way, no matter how long you stay in the secret passage, you will not feel uncomfortable due to the thin air.
When Xia Shengsheng went to the provincial capital to buy food, he brought gold with him and asked the gold shop to make two large boxes of gold leaves.
I can later sew these gold leaves into my family’s clothes.
If something unexpected happens or if a family member is lost, these gold leaves can also serve as a life-saving asset in troubled times.
When selling the grain, Xia Shengsheng divided it up over many days, and he did not buy the grain from the same store.
This is to avoid affecting fluctuations in food prices on the market.
Despite this, the large quantities of grain that were brought back alarmed quite a few people.
But Xia Shengsheng always evaded the question by saying that the factory had a huge demand, so they had stored so much food.
She couldn't really tell the villagers that there would be severe droughts in the coming years, not just this bright year, so she had stored so much food.
If she said too much, she would be caught as a monster, tied to a pillar and burned.
So, she would remind people of things that should be reminded, but she would keep silent about things that shouldn’t be said.