CHAPTER 23: CHAPTER 22: RETURNING WITH A FULL LOAD

The family owed too many things; from small items like needles, threads, pots, and oil lamps, to large items like tables, chairs, benches, beds, as well as clothes, quilts, rice, and flour. They lacked everything and needed to buy everything.

Qin Yao took a round around the entire Kaiyang County and bought everything they lacked.

Four hundred jin of fine rice, one hundred jin of refined flour, fifty jin of soybeans, and fifty jin of millet, totaling six hundred jin of food, would be enough for her and the four children to eat for four months, ensuring they could survive this winter well.

These fine rice, refined flour, and millet were more than twice as expensive as brown rice and coarse flour, costing four taels and eight maces of silver.

Of course, mainly because Qin Yao had a big appetite; she could eat as much as five people. For other families, six hundred jin of food could last more than half a year if made into porridge.

Don’t ask her why she didn’t save some money by buying brown rice or coarse flour.

Because she simply couldn’t swallow those things.

What is called brown rice should be more appropriately called rice bran. Only forty percent inside is rice, with the remaining sixty percent all rice bran skins.

The same goes for coarse flour; almost half of it is wheat husk, and the food steamed with water chokes one’s throat.

Even though resources were extremely scarce in the apocalypse, the dietary structure was different from ancient times. If people were too poor to eat, they indeed couldn’t afford to eat.

Whenever there was food, it was either long-term storage items like instant noodles and biscuits or grains obtained from agricultural bases.

Rice bran had long disappeared from the human diet.

So, don’t even mention brown rice or coarse flour; even modern people think a few bites of so-called whole grains, marketed for weight loss, taste like chewing wax.

Since she had the means, Qin Yao decided not to mistreat her own stomach; not being able to eat well was simply more uncomfortable than being chased by mutated zombies.

After buying the food, Qin Yao went to the fabric shop to buy three ten-jin heavy cotton quilts, three thin blankets, and three palm fiber mats made of palm bark.

She also weighed five jin of cotton, bought the cheapest piece of white cotton cloth, a piece of blue cotton cloth, and a piece of red coarse cloth.

The red fabric was saved to make new clothes for New Year; the children in the house all resembled their father in appearance with well-defined features. Dressing them up nicely would be particularly pleasing to the eye.

A piece of fabric was fifteen meters long and 1.2 meters wide, enough for two sets of clothes inside and out for the family of five, with some left over.

Qin Yao couldn’t make clothes herself. She bought needles and threads, planning to find someone to help her at home.

There were ready-made clothes for sale in the shop, presumably second-hand items taken from pawnshops as collateral.

Seeing the reasonable prices and looking at her own dirty hemp clothes that were beyond help, Qin Yao decisively picked a set she could wear, and also bought a set for each of the four children.

Each also got a pair of shoes; Qin Yao’s were leather boots, and the children’s were coarse cloth shoes, all half-worn.

Hers fit well, but due to the common simplicity among people, the sizes tended to be larger, and the children’s four pairs weren’t true to size either.

But children grow fast, and with socks and thick insoles, they could make do and fit well enough.

Socks, insoles, headscarves, and hairbands, Qin Yao also bought some.

All these came up to ten taels of silver.

When settling the bill, Qin Yao took a deep breath, thinking the fabric was too expensive; no wonder everyone bought materials and made clothes at home.

Upon leaving the fabric shop, Qin Yao proceeded to a general store and bought everyday necessities such as oil, salt, sauces, and vinegar, pots, and pans.

However, she didn’t find a shop selling ready-made furniture, only carpenters who took custom orders. Furniture had to wait, and she planned to find local carpenters to make some after returning to the village.

After purchasing everything, Qin Yao rented an oxcart at the North City Gate for thirty cents to load the grains she bought and returned to Liu Family Village with a fully loaded cart.

The oxcart was fully loaded, leaving no place to sit, so Qin Yao walked alongside the carter.

From Kaiyang County to Jinshi Town was all on official roads; the weather cleared up today, and the roads were fairly passable.

Qin Yao walked while counting the silver left in her hands.

This load of goods cost eighteen taels of silver, leaving her with sixty-seven taels and three maces of silver.

Qin Yao planned to save fifty taels for emergencies, and with the remaining seventeen taels, she intended to have a few decent pieces of furniture made and repair the dilapidated straw house, reinforcing the walls, adding two more rooms, and setting up a washing area and kitchen, then building the walls.

The wall was the most urgent matter; without it, there was no privacy at all, and it was unsettling to leave things at home for fear of them being stolen.

Also, a wall could repel some wild animals foraging from the mountains during winter, allowing one to sleep more peacefully.

Next was to repair the existing house structure; the thatched roof that could be blown away by the wind needed replacing with strong, waterproof tiles.

However, to roof tiles, both the beams and walls needed to be reinforced.

Qin Yao understood this vaguely, planning to ask the people from the Liu Family’s old house when the time came.

She saw that Old Liu and his three sons looked quite skilled when they were repairing her roof.

Qin Yao could tell that the people in the old house were uneasy about Liu Ji, this scoundrel.

Perhaps the crying child got the candy; Old Liu indeed showed partiality towards his son Liu Ji.

This bias was something even he might not realize.

Counting her remaining silver, Qin Yao envisioned sleeping in a solid house on a spacious and warm bed this winter. A smile naturally appeared at the corner of her mouth, and even her steps felt more spirited.

The carter couldn’t keep up with her and called out, making Qin Yao finally realize and slow down a bit.

She had eaten well and slept well last night, and today, she was in clean clothes, wearing sturdy and durable leather boots. Her whole spirit was improved, with no trace of despair on her face. Carrying a bow and wielding a knife, she exuded a bit of the grace of a roaming heroine.

The carter wasn’t one to talk much, and Qin Yao, wanting to learn more about the place, engaged in intermittent idle chat with him.

Only then did she find out from him that Kaiyang County had many rebellious gangs disguised as mountain bandits, who often raided the local people.

The local government was incompetent, leaving the rich merchants and wealthy gentry bitter and distressed.

Upon hearing this, Qin Yao suddenly worried about the goods on her cart.

The carter, noticing her concern, finally said proactively, "Young Madam, don’t worry. In this poor and remote place, they rarely come."

The carter said, "These bandits prefer going to the neighboring town where the official roads lead directly to the Prefecture, and there are many merchants along the way. They’re out for wealth, so naturally, they head that way."

"However, Young Madam, it’s best to be cautious when going out alone."

He had heard that many good families’ women were abducted to the mountains, tortured, and humiliated to death by bandits in extremely brutal ways, so he kindly advised Qin Yao.

"Thank you for the reminder. I know," Qin Yao gratefully nodded to the carter; she would indeed be more vigilant.

It seemed that ancient public security wasn’t much better than in the apocalypse.

The journey went quite smoothly other than the wheels getting stuck a few times. But with Qin Yao’s presence, they could easily push it out. By evening, they arrived safely at Liu Family Village.

Thinking of the four little ones at home, Qin Yao’s heart ached to return.

Yet unexpectedly, as she entered the village, she felt an odd atmosphere.