Early the next morning, after breakfast, everyone came to Dongshi Street.

This East Market Street is also a relatively prosperous trade market, the blue long brick pavement, the merchants on both sides of the street are lined up, clothing, makeup, wine, medicine, grain, porcelain, iron and other daily necessities are readily available, the shops are generally two layers, the banners and cloth are connected with the flags, the big shop plaques are hung high, there are occasional street hawkers to sell, the pedestrians on the street are bustling, but it is also very lively.

Everyone came to the grain market on Dongshi Street, and the locals called this grain market also called the firewood market.

There is indeed a wine shop at the entrance of the street, the wine shop is not big or small, the door is written "Sheng family old wine", there is a wine jar in front of the restaurant, there is a wine banner hanging on it, it seems that it is sold for the convenience of passing merchants to sell wine.

Sima Jingwen stopped, looked at the wine shop, and then looked around at the nearby merchants.

Turned around and said: "Presumably this is what the child said, the hour is still early, and it is not yet time to eat and drink, I will go to the grain market and shops in front to check the market, Mu Gongzi will come with me?" ”

Sima Jingwen's eyes were gentle, revealing expectation.

"No, we are not from Jiangdong, or Mr. Gu and Gongzi are suitable together." Yi Xue politely refused.

"Na, Mu Yi is right, let's go with Mr. Gu, Qinghu and I will follow Mu Yi around." Looking at Mu Yixue, who was dressed as a man, Murong Jia gave her a name by himself.

"Okay, let's go with Mu Gongzi." Qinghu immediately agreed, and at the same time looked at Zhou Rong.

"Well, let's go together!" Murong Jia showed his big white teeth.

Sima Jingwen frowned, and turned to Murong Jia with a cold face: "If Murong Gongzi wants to see the customs of this Chai City, please take care of yourself, and come to the wine shop at noon." ”

Seeing that Sima Jingwen seemed to have a sense of vinegar, Zhou Rong smiled: "Alas, since it is a separate action, let's go separately, Murong Gongzi and Qinghu, I will be with Mu Gongzi." ”

"Let's go our separate ways, so that we will know more news, and maybe we will gain something today." Gu Rong is a peacemaker.

"In this case, it's okay, I'll go with Mr. Gu to see the market of this rice market." After Sima Jingwen finished speaking, he rushed to cultivate the boundless road:

"Wuji, you follow Mu Gongzi."

"Yes," Xiu Wuji responded.

Murong Jia had a villainous expression: "Then Qinghu and I will go shopping first." Then he shook his body and walked and called out to the eagle to follow.

In the firewood market, there are vendors walking on the street, there are also merchants sitting in shops, and there are also black and white merchants (Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty once ordered merchants to go out to wear white shoes on one foot and black shoes on the other), the sound of selling and bargaining filled the whole street, noisy and lively.

Mu Yixue took Zhou Rong and Xiu Wuji to walk on the street nearby, asking the price of various commodities from time to time.

I saw a hawker's place, surrounded by a group of people, which looked like a rice stall.

A woman carried half a bag of rice she had just bought, squeezed out of the crowd with great effort, turned her head and wiped the corners of her eyes with her sleeve, and bumped into Zhou Rong who came over.

The bag of rice in the woman's hand, which had not yet had time to pierce her mouth, fell to the ground with a "snap", spilling most of the rice.

The woman quickly squatted down and picked up the rice......

"Alas, you woman walk....... Zhou Rong just opened her mouth to reprimand the woman who was squatting on the ground, but she was stopped by Yi Xue.

The passers-by trampled some of the rice under their feet, and the woman carefully picked up the rice with the soil, lest she miss a grain.

Seeing that the woman was full of tears, Yi Xue stepped forward and said, "It's my brother who was reckless and collided with my sister-in-law, please forgive me, this rice can't be eaten, let's compensate you!" ”

The woman was a little embarrassed to see that Yi Xue was a handsome boy and was so polite, so she straightened up and said, "Childe is polite, it's me who is absent-minded." After speaking, he looked at the rice that was trampled on the ground and wiped the corners of his eyes.

Seeing that her sister-in-law was so distressed, Yi Xue took out a tael of silver and stuffed it to the woman: "This is the rice money paid to you." ”

The woman hurriedly refused: "I can't help it, I can't help it, that little bit of rice is not in the way." ”

This woman is also a real person and refuses to accept Yi Xue's money.

At this time, Wuji said: "Since my sister-in-law is unwilling to accept money, I'll go buy some more rice and give it back to my sister-in-law." ”

"No need." Before the woman could finish speaking, Boundless was gone.

Wuji squeezed to the vendor where his sister-in-law bought rice just now, and then squeezed out again and came back empty-handed.

"Alas, Wuji, didn't you buy rice for your sister-in-law? How can you be empty-handed? ”

Wuji took the bag from the woman's hand and picked up the rice inside: "Sister-in-law, how can you eat such rice?" ”

Yi Xue and Zhou Rong saw that it was brown rice that had not been completely shelled, "Sister-in-law, why is this rice so rough?" Zhou Rong asked.

"Alas, at this price of rice now, I'm afraid even brown rice is unpalatable." The sister-in-law sighed, and the tears came out again.

"Wait, I'll go buy some good rice." After speaking, Wuji turned around and left.

"I was very sad to see my sister-in-law just now, I'm afraid that something is going on at home." Yi Xue asked tentatively.

"The life of the poor is just more difficult, last month a piece of cloth could be exchanged for a bag of rice, and now there is only half a bag of brown rice."

"This Jiangnan is the land of fish and rice, how can this be?"

"Alas, it's all about grain requisition!"

"Levy food? How do you say this? Yi Xue was puzzled.

"Listen to the accent, you're from the north, right?"

"Yes, we are from Luoyang and come to Jiangdong to do business."

"No wonder you don't know, since the requisition of grain, the price of this grain has risen day by day, and in the past, the little woman could barely make ends meet with the grain she got from weaving cloth, but now the price of this grain is afraid that she will be hungry." When the woman said this, she was grieved again.

Hearing the woman mention the requisition of grain, Mu Yixue pointed to the direction of the Chai River outside the market and asked, "Sister-in-law, in previous years, this Chai River was full of open boats with rice, why don't you see new rice farmers on this Chai River this year?" ”

"This ......," the woman looked at the passers-by, and stopped talking.

Seeing that it was inconvenient for the woman to say, Yi Xue said: "My brother is coming back soon, where does my sister-in-law's family live, I'll ask my brother to help you send the rice back!" ”

"I can't help this, I took your rice, and I want you to send it, how can this be done!" The woman's face was cramped.

"Sister-in-law, it's okay, I was reckless just now, I collided with my sister-in-law, the rice is compensated to you, my brother has great strength, and his legs and feet are fast." Zhou Rong also persuaded her.

At this moment, Xiu Wuji came back with a bag full of rice.

"Wuji, help my sister-in-law send the rice back."

"Okay, sister-in-law, you lead the way." Boundless.

"That's it, I've really met a good guy this time!" The sister-in-law said that, but she was already in front, and her face was also bright, after all, this bag of white rice could not be exchanged for the cloth she had woven for a month.

After walking for about half an hour, I came to a somewhat dilapidated courtyard, where an old lady was sitting picking vegetables at a broken table, and a doll less than two years old was placed next to her.

"Auntie, I'm back." The sister-in-law greeted the old lady.

Seeing that there were three people behind her, and seeing Xiu Wuji carrying a bag of rice, the old lady asked suspiciously, "Is there a guest coming?" ”

"Yes, A-Niang, three well-wishers have come here to help us deliver rice."

"Send rice?"

"Old Auntie, it was my brother who broke up my sister-in-law's rice, so we lost a bag of rice to my sister-in-law." Yi Xue replied.

"Sister-in-law, where do you put the rice?" Boundless asked.

"Come with me, Ah Cai, you can entertain the guests." Seeing such a big bag of rice, the old lady's face bloomed.

"I'll pour you water to drink!" The sister-in-law found that there was nothing to greet guests at home, so she had to ask if she wanted water.

"Don't bother, we're not thirsty." Yi Xue replied politely.

"Sister-in-law, your house looks very deserted, just the three of you?" Zhou Rong asked.

"Yes, it's just the three of us, the man is gone, and the mother-in-law and this doll who is less than two years old are left, and life is hard." As she spoke, the woman picked up the doll on the ground.

"Fortunately, I can weave, usually weaving cloth for some food, my mother-in-law grows vegetables, with this baby, there is always some hope for the future!"

Speaking of this, the sister-in-law regained her sad face: "It's just the current price of rice, I don't know if the cloth I weave can feed the three of us." ”

"Sister-in-law, when it came to rice just now, there seems to be some inconvenience, we are new to the first time, some things are not very clear, can sister-in-law tell one or two." Yi Xue brought up the topic just now, "In previous years, the Chai River was full of open boats with rice, why don't you see the fields of new rice this year?" ”

"Alas, there were a lot of people in Chai City at that time, so it's really hard to say, this is not a grain requisition."

"How?"

"This year is a bumper year, it is said that each acre of land has been harvested more than two or three buckets, when the new grain just came down, the farmers came to rice happily, but when they arrived at the firewood market, they were not happy. Last year, a bucket of brown rice was seven dollars and the grain was five dollars, but this year, the brown rice was five dollars and the valley was three dollars. ”

"Even if the price of rice is lower than last year, it won't be like this, right?" Mu Yixue was also quite surprised when she heard this.

"Having said that, the merchants are helpless, and the overcharged two or three buckets are calculated, and the income of the farmers is not as good as in previous years." The woman said helplessly.

"If the price of rice in the fields is so low, why is it so high in the market?" Zhou Rong asked.

"The price of rice in this field is so low that the farmers don't want to buy new rice, they want to wait and see. Therefore, there is a lot less new rice in the market than in previous years, and who expected that at this time, the imperial court actually sent a levy of grain, and now there is no surplus grain to sell in the hands of the farmers. ”

"Jiangnan is rich in grain, and this year is another bumper year, even if the imperial court collects grain, there should be surplus grain."

"What the prince said is right, the farmers thought that they had left enough rent grain, and they also kept enough of their own rations, even if they paid taxes, there was more than enough grain, who knew that the court was collecting grain........" The woman said this, looked around, and closed her mouth.

"What's wrong with the court's Hu?" Zhou Rong asked anxiously.

"My little woman also listened to what these traffickers said, and she didn't dare to talk nonsense, in short, this official Hu wanted to kill people."

"Sister-in-law is saying that there is a problem with the official Hu who levied the grain?"

"In short, now the farmers have to pay for their own rations, and the merchants have taken the opportunity to raise the price of rice, and now the price of rice is really difficult for our small families to make ends meet."

Yi Xue saw that the woman was timid and didn't dare to say more, so she didn't force it, so she took Zhou Rong and Wuji to say goodbye to the woman.

It's almost time, the three of them returned to the old wine of the Sheng family, found a fence by the window on the street and sat down, there were already a few idle customers in the store, but there was no young man in blue, Zhou Rong called Xiao Er, ordered a pot of wine, and ordered a side dish, waiting for Sima Jingwen and Murong Jia to come back.

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