The Lucky Farmgirl

In Luojiang County, no matter how business declined, there were always two places that were guaranteed to have people, and never lacked for customers.

One was the sundry shop that sold salt; the other was this grain shop.

When Bai Shanbao and his companions arrived, there were only three other customers in the grain shop, but the shop assistant only lifted an eyelid to glance at them before asking, "What would you like to purchase?"

Bai Shanbao said, "We’ll just have a look."

The shop assistant nodded, "Feel free to look around, and ask me for the prices once you’ve decided."

While they were speaking, a customer beside them asked, "Why is the rice still fifty wen per dou? I saw that the wheat in the fields outside has already been harvested."

"That bit of winter wheat is just barely enough for the rural folks to consume themselves—who’s selling it?" the shop assistant said. "Right now, our grains are still being imported at high costs from outside. This price isn’t high. If you want to wait for the grain prices to drop, you’d have to wait until the summer harvest, or maybe even after the autumn harvest."

The three customers who were hesitating about whether to buy or not could only say helplessly, "Then measure a dou for me."

With at least one and a half months to go before the summer harvest, who could wait with an empty stomach until then?

However, they didn’t buy much either. Unlike last year during the disaster, they no longer believed that grain prices would only decrease and wouldn’t rise again.

So, they preferred to make several trips, buying only one dou at a time, rather than waste that bit of extra money.