Shame

One stone of grain could produce at least 70 catties of rice. Even in the worst case scenario, it should be at least 60 catties per half a stone, right?

According to the worst case scenario, 841.6 copper coins could buy one stone of rice. Even if the merchants wanted to earn money, according to common sense, the most they should be charging was one tael of silver. In the previous autumn harvests, medium-grade rice was priced at one tael of silver per stone.

Mu Shi and Liu Daqian’s faces darkened. Liu Daqian asked with a dark expression, “Did you really buy the medium-rice for 1 tael and 300 copper coins yesterday?”

Mu Shi nodded.

Liu Daqian’s hand trembled slightly. “This, this heartless person actually earned almost twice as much…”

Mu Shi also lowered his eyes and did not speak. The grain stores in the town and the county were owned by rich families, and the three minister counselors in town were among them.

Mu Shi said, “I was thinking of going to the county tomorrow to sell the leather goods and stock up on food…”

“Don’t!” Liu Daqian said angrily. “Every family in the village has grains. Why do you need to buy it in the town or county? You’ll only benefit those bastards…”

Mu Shi fell silent. Previously, when the price of grain had risen, he was afraid that there had been a change in the situation at the border and he considered going south. However, now, the price of grain where Eldest Uncle lived had been lowered. Coupled with the increase in taxes this year, it was obvious that someone was maliciously raising the price of rice in the town and the county and lowering the price of grain in the countryside.

Liu Daqian naturally thought of the same thing, but there was nothing he could do. He needed to make this year’s payment to a porter in silver. The only thing the villagers could exchange for money was grains. Those people must have colluded to lower the price of grains, so the price of grains would be the same no matter who they sold it to.

When Mu Shi saw Liu Daqian’s face full of worry, he thought for a moment and went into the house to take out 1 tael of silver and 50 copper coins. “Eldest Uncle, this is all I have left after paying the tax. Just treat it as me buying grains from you.”

Liu Daqian tightened his grip on the silver in his hand and sighed. “I’ll get your cousins to carry the grains over for you later. It’s all new grains harvested this year.”

Mu Shi hurriedly said, “Just charge me last year’s grain price.”

Last year, the grain price at this time of the year was about 495 copper coins.

Liu Daqian nodded in agreement and stood up. “My family has the money for the payment to a porter now, but there are so many villagers who are still in the dark. I’ll discuss with the old fellows in the village and see if there’s any way. We can’t let those people scheme against us like this.”

Liu Daqian walked away with his hands behind his back.

Mu Yangling, who was cleaning the courtyard, shouted when she saw him leaving, “Take care, Eldest Uncle.”

Liu Daqian nodded slightly. “Ah Ling, your cousin Lang picked up two tattered books. You can come to my house and take a look. If they’re useful, bring them back for your younger brother. Your cousins can’t read a single word, so there’s no point in us keeping them.”

Mu Yangling replied happily, “I’ll go after the sun sets.”

Liu Daqian’s eldest grandson, Liu Lang, loved to walk around the streets and alleys to play. He would often pick up some things to bring home, and so long as it was anything paper-related, he would send it to Mu Shi’s house.

Because in the entire village, only the Mu family could read. To be precise, Shu Wanniang was the only one who could read.

Mu Shi, Mu Yangling and Mu Bowen all learned how to read from Shu Wanniang.

It was also because Shu Wanniang was literate that others didn’t really gossip about her even though she was not very good at doing chores. This was simply because literacy was too esteemed in this era.

Seeing that Liu Daqian had left, Mu Yangling ran back into the house and asked anxiously, “Father, should we still stock up on grains?”

“Why not? Let’s buy it directly from the villagers. We don’t have to go to town or county and can save a lot of money. When the time comes, we can just send it to the town mill to grind it into rice.”

Shu Wanniang sighed and said, “It wasn’t easy for everyone to have such a good harvest this year. I thought that everyone’s days would be more relaxed, but who knew that the grains would be deliberately undervalued? It really hurts the farmers.”

Mu Shi scratched his head. There was nothing he could do.

“Father, those who are lowering the price are all local squires. Wouldn’t it be fine if we sell the grains to passing merchants? At least we can raise the price.”

Shu Wanniang shook her head and laughed. “It’s not as simple as you think.”

Mu Shi chimed in, “Now that it’s autumn harvest, there’s more or less grains everywhere. The price of grains has already decreased. Coupled with the long journey, who would come to the border to transport grains for no reason? Alright, since even we adults can’t come up with a good idea, you shouldn’t get involved when you’re just a child.”

She was being looked down upon.

Mu Yangling was furious. Although she looked like a child on the outside, she was an adult on the inside! She was determined to find a way, or else she would have lived for so many years in vain.

Mu Shi did not know what his daughter was thinking. When he saw her eyes widen, he said, “This is a matter for adults. You’ve been busy for most of the day. Go play with your brother now. Keep an eye on him. Don’t let him go out and get too much sun.”

Seeing that Mu Shi was about to turn around and go to the storeroom, Mu Yangling asked curiously, “Father, why are you going to the storeroom?”

“I’ll go and sort out the leather goods. Tomorrow, I’ll go to the county to sell them. Your mother is about to give birth, so we have to leave some money at home.” Mu Shi felt sorry for his daughter, who had been working hard for most of the day, so he said, “Go and have fun. If you don’t want to play, go into the house and lie down for a while. Father will wake up early tomorrow and will probably only be back in the middle of the night. So, don’t go to the mountains tomorrow. Stay at home and take care of your mother and brother.”

Mu Yangling’s eyes darted around, before responding and running out to look for her brother.

Little Bowen was obediently shaking his head as he memorized the ‘Three Character Classic’ when Mu Yangling ran forward and grabbed the book from his hand. “Stop memorizing and go play with me.”

Little Bowen struggled for a moment and said, “But Mother told me to memorize till the fifth page before I can go out and play.”

“You’ve already memorized it for so long. Nothing more will stick even if you continue. Why don’t you go play with me for a while and memorize it when you come back in the evening? I’ll help you start the fire and cook dinner tonight, while you focus on memorizing the book.”

Little Bowen revealed a joyful smile and nodded obediently. “Then, Sister, where are we going to play?”

“Let’s go to Cousin Lang’s house first. He picked up two books with words. Let’s see what books they are and if they can be used. Then, I’ll take you to play with Goudan and the others.”

Goudan was the only son of Widow Liu who lived at the entrance of the village. Like Little Bowen, he was only five years old. He was the ‘king’ of the children in the village who were five or six years old. Little Bowen often played with them.

Little Bowen happily took the book back and put it away. Then, he ran out to hold his sister’s hand and skipped towards Cousin Lang’s house.

Most of the people in Nearhill Village had the surname Liu. Although there was also the surname Ma, Hu, and Zhang, they were the only family with the surname Mu. Therefore, as long as they mentioned the Mu family of Nearhill Village, everyone knew that they were referring to their family.

The Mu Family lived at the foot of the mountain, in a residence consisting of five tiled-roofed houses. Mu Yangling’s grandfather had built them before he married her grandmother. At that time, countless people were envious, for they were the only family in the village to live in such a house.

15 minutes to the southeast was the area with the houses most densely gathered in the village. Eldest Uncle’s residence was among them.

Eldest Uncle Liu Daqian had a total of three sons and two daughters, but in the end, only two sons remained. His second son had died of illness when he was only three years old. His two daughters had died in the military disaster 12 years ago, and Mu Yangling’s grandparents had also died in that military disaster.

Therefore, Eldest Uncle was now living with his two sons and had not split up the family assets.

As it was a busy period during the autumn, the adults were all laboring hard to harvest crops in the fields. Since there were not many people in the village, the siblings did not meet anyone when they walked over. The children above the age of six had probably been deployed to work in the fields.

Their eldest cousin, Liu Lang, was pressing his eight-year-old brother, Liu Lun, into a basin to take a shower. As he washed him, he scolded, “Who told you to be disobedient? When Father comes back tonight, I’ll see if he beats you up.”

Mu Yangling pushed the door open and entered. She blinked at the two people in the courtyard and asked, “Cousin Lang, Cousin Lun, what are you doing?”

Liu Lun screamed and grabbed the clothes from the stool to cover his chest. He shouted, “You’re not allowed to look. Turn around, turn around! Brother, quickly chase her out!”

Liu Lang looked at his brother in a daze. Then, he suddenly jumped up and blocked in front of his younger brother. He shouted, “Hey, you guys should go out first. Come in after Ah Lun is done putting on his clothes.”

Who would care to watch an eight-year-old bathe?

Mu Yangling rolled her eyes and brought her dazed brother out, closing the door on her way out.

Liu Lun jumped out of the basin and started to put on his clothes in a hurry. Eyes reddened, he looked as if he was about to cry. “She saw it. She must have seen it. Why didn’t you close the door just now?”

Liu Lang defended himself. “How would I know that someone would come? Isn’t everyone in the field now?”

Liu Lun wiped his tears aggrievedly. Liu Lang hurriedly said, “Don’t be sad. She definitely didn’t see it. You were sitting in the basin at that time, and you moved so quickly.”

“She really didn’t see it?”

“No, definitely not,” Liu Lang affirmed.

Chapter end