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By the time she returned, the grains from the two rice and grain shops had been delivered one after the other.

The towering pile of grains completely filled two rooms, leaving Old Cheng stunned and somewhat tongue-tied!

“Madam, why did you buy so much grain?”

Liu Sisi peeked in, her eyes like serene autumn waters.

“It’s not too much! With more people in our household in the future, these grains will just be enough for a year’s consumption! Besides, this pile is not all rice; there are also quite a number of coarse grains!”

She had calculated this based on the number of people.

Pondering the money spent today, there were exactly 70 loads of rice and 70 loads of pure flour. A load is 100 jin (a traditional Chinese unit of weight), which is more than enough for a family to eat for two to three years. There were also buckwheat, corn, black beans, etc., which added up to several dozen loads. Then, there were the expenditures on cotton, furniture, and various other sundries from the day before — all added up, she had spent nearly 500 taels of silver.

The sheer amount gave Liu Sisi quite a scare! Was it really that much?

It really isn’t easy to earn money but so easy to spend it!

Actually, it wasn’t that Liu Sisi was ruthless in buying so much, but when she arrived at the rice and grain store, her heart started pounding fiercely. Her instinct told her to buy this much grain. The intuition came too suddenly, so much so that she didn’t know how to explain it. She could only follow her instinct and buy, and explain it to Di Yelei when he returned home.

On one hand, she instructed Old Cheng to sort out the cellar, on the other hand, she thought about how to store these grains.

“Madam, the cellar is already filled with grains. The servant has already made two trips to bring back grains and put them in the cellar in the last two days. How can we accommodate so much more today?”

Liu Sisi held her forehead, regretting. How could she forget about the large amount of grains they had brought back two days ago!

Regret as she might, since the grains had been bought, they would have to be quickly divided and stored separately.

However, Liu Sisi didn’t regret for long before Di Yelei returned!

And he brought back a big family with him.

Liu Sisi hurriedly brought out the food, which the family eagerly took. Di Yelei stuffed a few steamed buns into his mouth before he finally caught his breath.

“This is a family of seven. Their house, pledged for a loan security, was buried in an avalanche. In order to repay the debt, they had to sell themselves into servitude. They were priced at 55 taels of silver. I have already talked with them, the husband and younger brother will help with the spring military recruitment, although their price is 10 taels more expensive than others.”

“55 taels of silver? For their family of seven?” Liu Sisi looked surprised.

She was struck by the thought that a family of seven was only worth 55 taels of silver, life was indeed cheap in these times! Even Di Yelei’s ‘old mother’ looked like she was just over fifty years old.

However, she remembered that when Di Yelei married her, it only cost them ten taels of silver. Thinking about it this way, it seemed quite reasonable.

Di Yelei assumed Liu Sisi was implying that he had overpaid.

He hastily explained, “I paid 5 taels extra for each of these stout men, so that’s 30 taels of silver. 2 taels for the old woman, 8 taels for the pregnant woman, and 4 taels for each child. In total, it’s 54 taels. Plus, I gave Granny Qin 3 taels as a reward!”

“It’s not that it’s expensive, it’s just that during this famine year, human lives are as cheap as paper.”

Liu Sisi spoke with a deep sigh, expressing her heartfelt lament.

Watching the family of several people wolfing down their food, they must be truly starving!

“You’re right, many wealthy families were picking people when I got there. Granny Qin told me that because you notified her in advance yesterday, she was able to keep this family for me. Many wealthy families were fighting over able-bodied laborous men.”

“Granny Qin didn’t say anything else, did she?”

“She didn’t say much. This family’s house was buried in snow, and by coincidence, one of the three men was due for compulsory labor service. Given that the woman was pregnant and they also had an elderly mother, many wealthy families didn’t want to take them in, and that’s how they ended up with me …”

Di Yelei was unabashed, stuffing his mouth with food as he spoke.

“After eating, I need to head back to the governmental office immediately. I was instructed to deliver a message to the small town, so I volunteered for this errand specifically to bring these seven family members back. The carriage was rented from the Carriage Shop and needs to be returned later. I drove the jujube red horse all night yesterday, and I’m worried that it might be exhausted.”

Hearing this, Liu Sisi opened her eyes wide, her gaze unfathomably staring at him.

“You are worried that the animals will get tired! Have you ever thought about your own health? After eating, you should rest for a while before leaving. Isn’t the governmental office asking you to deliver a message to Liuping Town? They must have calculated the travel time. Today is such a cold day, either you return to the governmental office late, or you simply stay here and rest overnight.”

Di Yelei thought about it and then shook his head: “No can do! Because Constable Zuo didn’t show up for work yesterday, County Magistrate Su was furious. I lied, saying that Constable Zuo twisted his waist after getting drunk during the New Year and has to rest for a couple of days, which barely mollified County Magistrate Su’s anger. I asked Zhang Peng to do the errand to South Mountain Village instead, and take some food and expenses to Mother Zuo on the way.”

“Hmm! That’s a given! After all, we owe him for having helped us. It’s only right to look after his family.”

Liu Sisi chose to change the subject and not mention Zuo Xingyu any further, “This morning I went out to buy some grain, thinking about how to store it in small amounts. As you said, this year’s weather is really abnormal, with many people freezing to death or falling ill. It’s probably a year of natural disasters. During such years, one would worry about the lack of medicine, and secondly about the food shortage. Therefore, I bought a little more…”

As she spoke, she felt a bit embarrassed.

The sudden feeling made her unsure of how to explain to Di Yelei.

Di Yelei’s mind was clearly not there, he nonchalantly nodded his head, “Alright! I’ll rest directly later, and when I wake up, I’ll hide these grains. You’re heavy-bodied, rest first.”

Old Cheng on the side wanted to offer a few reminders since the master was oblivious of the matter, but seeing that the master wasn’t even looking in his direction, he had no choice but to hold his tongue.

Di Yelei was indeed exhausted; as soon as he finished eating, he went straight to the bedroom to rest.

The family of new arrivals were also exhausted. Liu Sisi didn’t require them to start working immediately, instead, she had Old Cheng show them to their accommodations. Luckily, the courtyard was well-constructed, next to the storefront were several servants’ rooms. Though each room was the size of a pigeon cage, having a place to take shelter from wind and rain was not too bad.

Di Yelei slept soundly. By the time he woke up and got out of bed, he realized it was already dark outside.