The happy little days of the Ye family

The weather is good here in the south, and there is a bumper harvest of food.

However, a drought hit the north, and this year's autumn harvest was only about 30% of previous years.

Before the people in the village knew it, the price of food in the county was getting higher day by day.

After harvesting new grain in previous years, the price of grain will be slightly cheaper, especially last year's old grain, which will be basically one and a half penny cheaper per catty.

But this year, even the price of old grain is more expensive than the new grain in previous years, and the new grain is about 20% more expensive than before.

If it hadn't been for the fact that many grain shops in the county had come to collect grain in recent days, and the prices were much higher than in previous years, the people in the village would not have noticed.

Several waves of people came to collect grain at once, and each one offered higher prices than the last.

The village was full of farmers who depended on the weather for their livelihood. They suddenly felt something was wrong and they didn't dare to sell the food. They immediately told the village chief Ye Qiushi.

Ye Qiushi immediately felt an ominous premonition when he heard that various grain stores were rushing to collect grain, and that the prices were much more expensive than in previous years.

Ye Qiushi's face changed, and he immediately drove the donkey cart to the county to inquire about the news.

Only when I went to the county did I find out that there was a drought in the north and food production in many places had been significantly reduced.

In the most serious places, the harvest is only about 10% to 20% of previous years.

There is not enough food in the north, so it is naturally necessary to import food from the south. This has also led to a shortage of food here, and food prices have been rising.

After returning from the county, the village chief called a meeting with all the people in the village overnight and told everyone about the food shortage in the north.

And they were repeatedly warned that no one was allowed to take out food from home.

"If someone sells food secretly, the people in the village will not care if their family is starving due to lack of food."

Then he said earnestly: "If you sell the grain now, if there is not enough food in the future, you may not be able to buy it back at a high price."

We are all old farmers working in the fields, so we naturally know that God will fall out whenever he wants, and no one knows what the harvest will be like next year.

Except for a few families whose families were particularly in need, who sold a small amount of grain to provide emergency relief, people in the village basically took grain seriously.

The grain merchants who came to collect grain basically returned empty-handed no matter how high the price they offered.

People in the village don't sell food outside, but they have to pay the food tax.

The next day, the village received a notice from the government. In a few days, officials would come to collect grain taxes, and this year's grain taxes could only be paid on grain.

In previous years, in addition to grain, the grain tax could also be replaced by silver or cloth.

But this year there is a grain harvest in the north, and the government has issued a notice that this year's grain tax will only collect grain.

Large grain households like the Ye family and the Tang family, which had large amounts of land, were originally prepared to hand over grain, so it had no impact.

However, some families in the village who have little land are very worried. They have many children and do not have enough food to eat.

There is a shortage of food everywhere now. If you hand over the food, you won't be able to buy it back if you don't have enough food in the future.

That day, Ye Qingqing met several waves of people coming to buy food.

Thinking that there was a batch of grain at home that he wanted to sell, Ye Qingqing sold some.

People in the village are not related to each other. They look up but don't look down. They still have to help those who can.

And everyone knows that the Tang family has a lot of land and food. If they don't help at all, everyone will definitely blame their family if there is a food shortage in the future.

Secondly, everyone knows that their family has food. If there is a real shortage of food in the future, people may target their family.

If we sell the grain to the people in the village now, the village will really be short of grain in the future, and it can be said that all the grain has been sold.

However, Ye Qingqing also kept an eye on it and only sold a small portion, while still keeping most of the food. And these grains were originally intended for sale.

The family keeps enough food to last for several years.

A few days later, people from the government came in large numbers to collect grain.

All the grain was handed over to the village, but instead of falling, the price of grain was getting higher and higher.

During this period, the village chief went to the county again, and found that the food supply in the county had increased by nearly 6%.

Even the price of food in the town has increased by 3%, and Ye Donglin's grocery store no longer dares to take out food.

Just when everyone was panicking, they went to the mountains to dig sweet potatoes and wild vegetables, trying every means to save food.

The price of food suddenly dropped to the previous level.

There is news that there are some unscrupulous grain merchants in the county who had their homes confiscated for hoarding grain.

All the large amounts of food that had been hoarded were confiscated by the government and sold at low prices.

There is more food on the market, and food prices will soon fall back to previous levels.

Ye Qingqing was very happy to know that a group of grain dealers in the county had their homes confiscated.

If the house is confiscated, then the house in the hands of these black-hearted grain dealers will be free.

After learning the news, Ye Qingqing's first reaction was to quickly go to Guan Ya in the county to see the house.

"Ms., please take 600 taels of silver and I'll go back to my mother's house. My mother and the others should also want to buy a house."

Ye Qingqing asked Tang Xiaojing to prepare the money first, and then turned around and went to Ye's house.

The Ye family's property is only much larger than that of the Tang family, and there are also more people, so they should have accumulated a lot of money.

The two families have no foundation in the county. If they buy the houses together, they can take care of them in the future.

When Tang Xiaojing saw his wife walking out in a hurry, he quickly reminded:

"The prices of houses and shops in the county have increased a lot in the past few years. Please remind your father-in-law and mother-in-law to bring more money."

"I know, this kind of merchant's house must be in a good location, and it's probably not cheap."

At this time, Mr. Ye and his father were not at home. Ye Qingqing found Mrs. Ye and her mother:

"Mom, grandma, I heard that a group of grain dealers in the county had their homes raided, and their shops and houses were sealed. There must be a lot of houses for sale in Guanya now."

"My husband and I have discussed that we will buy another big house in the county. Do you want me to go and see it together?"

Mother Ye looked at Mrs. Ye, "Mom, why don't we go and have a look? The palace has accumulated a lot of money over the years."

Not to mention the public money, Ye Mu also saved a lot of money from her own private house. When Ye Qingqing said she wanted to buy a house, she was immediately moved.

Moreover, the Ye family only has one house in the county, and Ye's mother has two sons, which is not enough.

Old Mrs. Ye thinks it is good to buy a house in the county, far away from the town, so that people in the village don't know her family's financial situation.

"Okay, I'll pass by the town when I go out later. Call Qingqing's father too."

"The price of houses in the county has increased a lot now. Before the autumn harvest, my husband went to inquire. A better house costs about 500 taels. Mom, please bring more money." Ye Qingqing reminded again.

"Okay, we know this well." Mrs. Ye said calmly.

"Okay, then I'll come back first and leave for the county in a quarter of an hour."

"Qingqing, please bring Chenchen and Yangyang over later."

Mother Ye thought that if she went to the county to look at a house this time, she would definitely not come back soon, so she felt more at ease leaving it at home.

"okay."