Traveling through ancient times to survive

A total of 600 kilograms of rice, 800 kilograms of brown rice, 700 kilograms of corn, 700 kilograms of black flour, and 600 kilograms of fine flour were bought; the salt shop bought the maximum amount, which was two kilograms of coarse salt; the cloth shop bought 100 kilograms of cotton, three pieces of fine cotton cloth, and five pieces of coarse cloth; the clinic bought 20 tablets of typhoid fever medicine, 20 tablets of epidemic prevention medicine, and five bottles of medicine for injuries and trauma; the total cost was more than 86 taels.

Most of the supplies were stored in the space, leaving only 100 kilograms of rice, 300 kilograms of brown rice, 200 kilograms of black flour, 10 kilograms of cotton, two pieces of coarse cloth, and all the medicines in the carriage. Zhao Qing crushed the recovery pills and mixed them into five bottles of medicine, and then drove the ox cart back home.

The setting sun slowly sank into the back mountain. The villagers of Dashan Village had already rested, and Zhao Qing then drove a cart of supplies back home.

At this time, the dim flame of the kerosene lamp in the thatched house flickered. Zhao Dezhang nodded his little head, but still suppressed his sleepiness and sat at the door waiting for his elder sister to come back. Zhao Chengchuan, who was now well and could stand up straight, also sat at the table in the main room, waiting anxiously.

Looking at the blurry figure in the distance, Zhao Dezhang jumped up excitedly: "Big sister is back!"

Before Wang Mei could see the ox cart behind Zhao Qing, the long wait made her worried and angry. She blurted out words of reproach: "Where have you been running off to, you damned girl? Don't you know your family is worried? Why are you back so late?"

Zhao Chengchuan: "Qingya, your mother is worried about you. Is there anything that delayed you today?"

Zhao Qing did not answer, but felt a little touched. He took the initiative to lead the ox cart to the door of his house. The whole family opened their mouths in surprise.

Soon Wang Mei hurried out, looked around, and saw that there was no one around, so she felt relieved.

She spoke in a low voice, fearing that she would wake up the villagers and be discovered.

"Hurry up and bring the cow in."

Zhao Chengchuan's expression changed: "What's going on? Where did the money come from? Dad will be fine soon, my daughter, don't go the wrong way!"

Zhao Dezhang didn't believe that the eldest sister's money came from illegal sources. His eyes sparkled and he said in an admiring tone: "Eldest sister is amazing!"

Faced with misunderstanding, Zhao Qing was rarely upset. He planned to test his family first and see Zhao Chengchuan's reaction before deciding what to do next.

If Zhao Chengchuan agreed with her after careful consideration, she would make the matter of stockpiling supplies public, and the family would work together to face future difficulties.

If Zhao Chengchuan thought she was talking nonsense and didn't believe her at all, she would prepare enough food and hide it herself, and then help them find a safe place when the world is in chaos in the future, and then go their separate ways after leaving some food behind.

Zhao Qing explained softly, word by word: "Dad, there is no problem with the source of the money. It was a wild ginseng I found on the mountain today. I went to the county pharmacy and sold it for 90 taels. I originally planned to come back directly, but I accidentally heard news in the county that the world might change. I went to ask around and found that the nobles in the county were secretly hoarding a large amount of grain, medicine, charcoal and other things. The prices of these things have risen a lot. The news has not yet spread to the town, so I bought an ox cart and some food when I returned to the town, which is why I came back late."

When Wang Mei heard that the wild ginseng was sold for 90 taels, she was overjoyed and ignored the rest of the conversation: "Where's the money? Hurry and take it out."

Zhao Qing took out three silver ingots of ten taels each, as well as thirteen taels of loose silver and some copper coins.

Wang Mei took the money and carefully counted it under the kerosene lamp, while Zhao Chengchuan focused on the second half of the conversation, "The world has changed? Can you tell me more about it?"

"All the major pharmacies in the county are short of medicinal materials, and there are not many left in the cloth, cotton and grain shops. It is said that passing merchants intend to transport them to the border for resale. Not to mention the unreasonableness of this, the more important thing is that now in summer, some people are buying a large amount of charcoal."

Zhao Chengchuan thought for a while and praised Zhao Qing: "You bought the right things. We don't know what's going on, but we can't go wrong by following smart people."

"Why is there only more than forty taels? Where is the rest of the money?" Wang Mei's voice sounded immediately.

Zhao Qing: "The ox cart weighed 18 taels, I spent 4 taels and 900 wen on grain, 5 taels on cotton, 600 wen on coarse cloth, 15 taels on medicine, and 3 taels on getting information, a total of 46 taels and 500 wen."

Wang Mei covered her chest and gasped: "You poor kid, have you been cheated? What kind of thing costs so much money!"

"No, mother, you will know when you go and see."

"Okay, I want to see if it's inlaid with gold! Third brother, come and join us!"

The two of them were busy moving supplies. Zhao Qing was satisfied with Zhao Chengchuan's reaction, so he increased his efforts and made a shocking guess.

"Dad, I suspect there may be a war in the winter. Although I don't know how the news leaked, but seeing how they are stockpiling goods, the news is very accurate. We must prepare early."

"Okay, let's go pay off the money we owe tomorrow, buy the ox cart, and buy some bricks and tiles to repair the house. Tell others that you were lucky enough to dig up a wild ginseng and sold it for seventy taels."

Zhao Qing was very happy that his future teammates were reliable, and continued to suggest: "Dad, this amount of food is not enough. After we finish repairing the house, we can secretly dig a cellar and continue to buy some food to hide."

"Well, what a world this is! Life is hard for us ordinary people!"

Since we are prepared to face it together, we can't just ignore the village.

"Dad, do you want to talk to the village chief?"

"No one will believe it now because we have no evidence. Besides, we are just guessing and cannot be sure. Villagers don't have much money and money should be spent wisely. How can they hoard food and cloth just because of our guess? Only because you found the ginseng did we have the money to prepare food and cloth for the winter. When winter is approaching, I will go and find out more. After further confirming the news, I will go to the village chief to make some inquiries."

"Okay, Dad, do you want to call my eldest brother back when we repair the house?"

"Your eldest brother's master has taken on a big job in the capital city. We can't delay this. Besides, it's been two months, so he should be back soon."

After the two finished talking, Zhao Qing went to help the mother and son move the goods. Wang Mei opened the grain bag and muttered: "How poor is our family? You still buy so much rice!"

Perhaps seeing his daughter's indifference to her mother, Zhao Chengchuan rushed to make amends: "You and the children have suffered since I was injured. It would be great if everyone could eat some fine grains to replenish their body."

"Wow! So much cotton! No wonder it cost five taels! There are also three sets of ready-made clothes. What are you going to do with this, girl?"

Zhao Qing was helpless: "I was afraid of being underpriced when selling ginseng, so I used the money from selling wild animals to buy a set of ready-made clothes, and then changed into clothes before selling. After I came out, I found someone following me, so I went to the store to buy another set of clothes. The last set was for me to go to the inner city to gather information, so I bought another set of clothes to avoid being discovered."

Zhao Chengchuan asked hurriedly: "Are you in danger?"

Zhao Qing: "No, Dad, I got rid of them all."

"My eldest daughter is so smart!" Zhao Chengchuan gave her a thumbs up in praise.