The county town was undoubtedly prosperous, but this prosperity held no appeal for someone without a single coin in their pocket.

After parting ways with Paternal Uncle and his son, Shu Wanxiu chose a relatively bustling alley and plunged right in.

“Dried fish for sale! Dried fish for sale! Dried small fish, dried shrimp, we have it all! Plus fresh greens winter amaranth, Chinese leek, spinach, Garland Chrysanthemum…”

After walking through the entire alley, Shu Wanxiu realized that doing business truly required thickening one’s skin and sharpening one’s tongue.

She started off calling out well enough, but when people asked about prices, she became tongue-tied and stumbled over her words. Those initially interested in her vegetables took one look and walked away because of her clumsy speech.

After completing a few transactions, her tongue loosened up, and business gradually became smoother.

She sold the first batch of greens for three coins per bunch, while dried fish and shrimp were sold by the bowl. She had brought a rice bowl five coins for a level bowl, eight coins for a heaping large bowl.

In less than two hours, all the greens were sold out, and only a small portion of dried fish and shrimp remained.

Shu Wanxiu’s heart burned with excitement. After wandering around a bit more, she sold the last of the small dried fish and shrimp.

Ten bunches of greens earned thirty coins, while over half a bag of dried fish and shrimp brought in one hundred and sixty coins.

After being impoverished for so long, suddenly having one hundred and ninety coins in her pocket made Shu Wanxiu feel so lightheaded she nearly had to lean against the wall to walk.

Before the agreed-upon time arrived, she hurried into a general store to buy needles and thread, then went to a cloth shop to purchase some fabric scraps.

These altogether cost ten coins.

With still some time left before meeting at the city gate, Shu Wanxiu lingered indecisively at the market entrance.

She had initially intended to buy something for Shu Shouyi, but after leaving the cloth shop, the initial joy of earning money had already faded.

Winter was approaching soon. A single cold wind could cause both adults and children to catch a chill. If anyone developed headaches, fever, or general weakness, they would inevitably have to spend money on doctors and medicine.

This winter, they could make do with clothes and quilts stuffed with Reed Catkins, but they couldn’t continue like this year after year. They needed to acquire cotton quilts and padded clothes sooner rather than later.

In short, there were still many places at home that required money, and it was uncertain how many more rounds of small fish and shrimp they could sell from the stream.

In the end, Shu Wanxiu steeled her heart and thought, “Better save up to buy a loom,” and ultimately bought nothing for Shu Shouyi.

When she arrived at the city gate, Shu Yanrong was already there.

Since they had to wait for their cousin anyway, she mentioned her earlier indecision and asked Shu Yanrong if her final decision had been correct.

Shu Yanrong replied without hesitation, “Of course it was right. Lately, you’ve eaten rabbit meat, fish, and eggs. Your ordinary days are better than your New Year celebrations in previous years. Money really shouldn’t be spent recklessly.”

Receiving this affirmation, Shu Wanxiu’s mood instantly lightened considerably.

About a quarter of an hour later, Shu Chenglin also arrived carrying empty wooden buckets.

On the return journey, the trio’s cheerful mood went without saying, though it was somewhat late. Shu Chenglin escorted Shu Wanxiu to the entrance of Five Tablet Village.

Two days passed in a flash. Shu Wanxiu finished mending her and Shu Shouyi’s worn-out clothes, then joined Paternal Uncle’s family to go collect grain.

They had set out early enough, but along the way, they continually encountered refugees from other villages heading to collect relief grain.

Hurrying their pace was useless everyone else was moving quickly too.

Upon reaching the county town, they found the line for collecting grain stretched all the way to the city gate.

Word had it that some people had camped outside the city gates overnight and rushed in to collect grain the moment the gates opened at dawn.

Compared to them, families like theirs who arrived early in the morning couldn’t really be considered proactive.

Xu Zhen had Shu Wanxiu carry Shouyi and stand at the front of their family group. As the queue inched forward, they gradually saw people exiting the city after collecting their grain.

The man from the family ahead of Shu Wanxiu anxiously grabbed a burly man with a full beard and asked, “Brother, what’s the situation inside? How much grain is left? Will there still be enough by the time it’s our turn?”

Many families shared these concerns and pricked up their ears to listen.

“There’s enough grain, but…” The bearded man looked at them mockingly, “those coming later won’t get white rice.”

“What?!”

This caused an uproar.

The crowd immediately erupted.

“What do you mean no white rice? Then what will we get?”

“Heh heh.” The big man laughed as if watching a show. “Curious? Then stop queuing and go check out the county office entrance.”

Anyone who couldn’t sense the bearded man’s ill intentions by now would be a fool. Even the man who had grabbed him to ask questions released his hand.

Though no one actually left the queue to investigate, restlessness spread through the crowd.

After two hours, the snail-paced queue finally reached the county office entrance.

Shu Wanxiu stood on her toes to look and saw one family walking out beaming.

“Good thing we came early – we got the last portion of white rice.”

Hearing this made everyone’s hearts sink.

Again, it was the family ahead of Shu Wanxiu who asked: “May I ask, brother, what will be distributed after the white rice runs out?”

“Unhulled rice, or soybeans, or wheat.”

“Really?! Is that true?!”

“Why would I lie to you? The Yamen runners distributing the grain said so themselves.”

Shu Wanxiu turned and met her Paternal Uncle’s gaze, both seeing disbelief in each other’s eyes.

They had suspected the relief grain situation might change, but hadn’t expected it to happen like this in just the second month.

It seemed they would need to be even more frugal with their food.

…

What Shu Wanxiu received was unhulled rice, weighing the same as the white rice distributed the previous month.

With unhulled rice, one jin contained one liang of bran, and bran didn’t taste good – by any calculation, this was a loss.

The Yamen runners’ attitude remained fairly decent. Each time a new group entered, they would explain: there were too many refugees, and the monthly relief grain was allocated from various regions – there simply wasn’t enough refined grain for everyone. From now on, it would be like this every month – those who came first would get better grain, those later would get poorer quality, or mixed grains.

Shu Yanrong’s family also received unhulled rice. True to his reputation as the family elder, after their grain was distributed, he first grabbed a handful to examine its quality, then picked a single grain and bit into it with his teeth.

The moisture content of rice was easy to determine.

Freshly harvested rice had high moisture content – obvious at a glance.

Rice that had been partially dried but not completely would not crunch when bitten.

Well-dried rice would go ‘crack’ when bitten.

Thoroughly dried rice would be difficult to bite through with one bite.

The grain Shu Yanrong picked went ‘crack’ between his molars. He nodded to Shu Wanxiu, indicating the quality wasn’t bad – it was newly harvested rice from this year, reasonably dried without too much moisture adding weight.

“Let’s go ask about rice prices at the grain store,” Shu Yanrong suggested on the street, and everyone followed him.

Shu Wanxiu followed along, holding a bag of grain with one hand and leading Shu Shouyi with the other.

In the current dynasty, one dan of grain weighed sixty kilograms. They inquired at three or four grain shops, and the prices varied little basically, one hundred and fifty wen could buy one dan of grain.

“Whew ” Once they left the county town and were away from the crowd, Shu Tingyi let out a long sigh and complained in a voice neither too loud nor too soft, “We’re already not eating enough, and now we’ll have to be even more frugal with our grain.”

Xu Zhen said, “This year is the hardest to get through. Once we endure it, everything will be better.”

Shu Chenglin added, “Yes, what can we expect from free relief grain? Let’s just come early to queue up next time.”

“Fortunately, the court exempted us from taxes for three years.” This was what Shu Wanxiu was most grateful for, aside from receiving the relief grain.

“Let’s hope for a good harvest in the coming years.”

After discussing the relief grain, Shu Wanxiu asked if Paternal Uncle’s new house was finished.

“Yes, it was completed yesterday.”

Xu Zhen knew that Chen Sanhe had helped clear their family’s name entirely thanks to Shu Wanxiu. When the topic of the new house came up, she couldn’t help but warmly invite her: “Wanxiu, why not stay at our place tonight? There are four rooms in the new house for people to live in. You and Shouyi can sleep with Tingyi.”

However comfortable others’ homes might be, they were not as good as one’s own humble abode. Unless necessary, Shu Wanxiu didn’t want to stay overnight at someone else’s house.

Besides, she hadn’t contributed to Paternal Uncle’s family building their house how could she have the cheek to freeload and stay in their new home?

After politely declining, she changed the subject and asked if everyone knew about the custom in Fang Yuan County of offering rice cakes to villagers when moving into a new house.

“Yes, we’ve heard. The rule here is that you can skip the ridgepole celebration banquet, but you must distribute rice cakes. We owe everyone, and we’ll make rice cakes to thank them after harvesting new grain next year.”

Shu Wanxiu said, “My family plans to do the same.”

Walking cheerfully all the way home, even after parting ways, the sound of everyone’s laughter and chatter seemed to linger in Shu Wanxiu’s ears.

She collected her thoughts and, after eating and washing up, began seriously pondering where to hide the money.

She still had one hundred and eighty wen left. Based on today’s grain prices, that was enough to buy more than one dan of rice.

A few days ago, she had taken some leftover fabric scraps from mending clothes and sewed them into a rather ugly sachet, which held all the family’s silver.

Where would be a good place to hide it? Clutching the cloth bundle, she looked around.

Looking up the beams or roof? Without a ladder, she couldn’t reach them.

Looking down under the bed? There was nothing under the bed; it would be like blatantly telling a thief, “The money’s here, come and steal it~”

In the grain bag? That would be giving both grain and money to a thief.

Carrying it on her wasn’t reliable either. She went into the mountains daily to gather firewood and waded into streams to catch fish. If the sachet fell somewhere, it would be a disaster.

Where to hide it? Where on earth to hide it?

Shu Shouyi was already fast asleep, snoring softly.

Better to split it in two.

Half would be wrapped in cloth and hidden in the firewood pile in the main room; the other half would be wrapped in a lotus leaf and hidden in the fire pit dug earlier in the woodshed.

Since Xun Yi had given her a new iron pot, Shu Wanxiu had returned the small pot Aunt Chen had lent her. Lately, she had been using the large stove to boil water and cook, so the fire pit dug when they first arrived seemed unlikely to be used again.

Let it serve one final purpose: guarding half of their family’s money.