Chapter 308 - 308 Complaining
“You’re right.” Zhou Ying nodded. Then, she paused and asked, “By the way, many came to the village over the last two days to buy white potatoes at the price of 15 coppers per pound. Do you know who they are?”
“Are they really asking at such a high price? Could it be someone rich that’s collecting seeds?” Manager Liu asked with a pensive look.
It seemed that he would have to send someone to inquire about this. If a rich man was indeed buying these potatoes, it should be fine.
He was afraid that someone was scheming something terrible, and the villagers wouldn’t have enough to eat when they sold their food and would end up directing their anger at them instead. That would be troublesome.
“I’m not sure. I’ve only heard a little about it, but there are quite a lot of them in the village.”
“Aren’t they digging their own graves? Those white potatoes are their life-saving food.” Changshun asked in shock.
“Each family has their own plans, and we can’t control them.” After Zhou Ying finished speaking, she went to the cow and sheep pens. She was relieved to see that their birth rate had dropped significantly.
After reminding them to store more firewood, she went directly home.
When she got home, she saw it was still early, so she made a pot of millet porridge with white potatoes.
After that, she kept the white potato grains hanging outside back into the house and went into her interspace to stir-fry a plate of cabbage and garlic, twice-cooked pork, and a plate of sauced beef.
When Gu Chengrui returned, they immediately started eating dinner.
Afterwards, when Zhou Ying finished washing the dishes, she saw Gu Chengrui sitting in a daze at the end of the bed. She walked over and asked, “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
Gu Chengrui pulled her into his arms and replied, “There are malaria and dysentery in the south. All the antiparasitic, antibacterial, and antitoxin drugs have been transferred there.”
“Isn’t that a good thing? If they need you to concoct the medicine, it means that the imperial court is doing disaster relief.”
“That’s true; let’s hope there are fewer people dying. I’m just worried that something might happen here and that there’s no medicine left.”
“Sigh, it’s been two years, and it’s been one disaster after another. I don’t know when it’ll calm down.”
“It should be soon. If this continues, humanity will go extinct.”
“I hope so.”
The next morning, just as Gu Chengrui left, Mrs. Bai came looking for them.
Zhou Ying was stunned for a moment. “Auntie, what a rare guest. Come and have a seat inside.”
“I’m fine. I’m free, so I just came to chat with you.
“Let’s just sit in the courtyard; it’ll be warmer with the sun.”
“That’s true. I’ll just cut some more sweet potatoes and let them dry.” After Zhou Ying finished speaking, she first brought two chairs over.
She took out a bag of white potatoes, washed them, rubbed them, and finally cut them into small pieces.
“Your work is really fine; I just cut them all into slices.” Mrs. Bai said it in surprise.
“I’m free anyway, so you mean that you’ve already started drying all your potatoes?”
“Yeah, we have a lot of us, and the place is big, so it’s naturally faster.”
After the two of them chatted for a while, Mrs. Bai complained in a low voice.
Many of the sweet potatoes at home were used to help out the village chief’s daughter’s family, but she wasn’t allowed to help her maternal family.
Also, if there was good food, it didn’t matter if they had enough to eat; they would give the village chief’s daughters a portion first. In short, she was dissatisfied with how the village chief handled things.
Especially when it came to financial aid, the sweet potatoes given to his daughter’s family were in accordance with the usual amount.
When it came to her family, they only got 200 pounds of potatoes and some vegetables, which made her uncomfortable.
She looked at Zhou Ying. “Ying, don’t you think this is just unfair? If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have supported letting my sister-in-law and her family stay in the village.”
Zhou Ying hesitated and asked, “Auntie, did Tieniu’s aunt take a share of your family’s grain reserve?
“In other words, did they split your share of the white sweet potatoes?”
“No, they didn’t. They helped harvest, transport, and weigh the white sweet potatoes from the beginning.
“Thus, the Third Prince treated her family as part of our family when they were dividing white sweet potatoes..”