Chapter 310: Useless Money (2) (2/2)

“No, no, this humble one doesn’t think it’s too little. This humble one begs big sister to give just a few wheat pancakes.” After saying so, he turned to Wenlan and kowtowed as if his life depended on it.

Wenlan was completely stunned. She couldn’t believe that someone would rather have a few copper coins worth of wheat pancakes rather than a silver tael worth a few hundred of those coins. Was this child silly in the head?

Chu Lian watched the situation before her with furrowed brows. Tang Yan directed a meaningful gaze at her with the shadow of a smile.

Suddenly, a lightbulb lit up in Chu Lian’s mind.

She turned to Wenlan and said, “Wenlan, get him some food.”

Although Wenlan found it strange, she still followed the order.

The half-grown child took the three cold and hard steamed buns that Wenlan passed to him, his face full of unconcealed joy. He quickly stuffed them into his shirt before looking carefully around him. Only then did he kneel down and bow towards Chu Lian before taking off and disappearing around the corner of a small alleyway.

Chu Lian watched the child disappear before ordering the party to get settled into the estate.

Her leg was wounded, so she walked very slowly with the support of Wenqing and Wenlan. Tang Yan was able to catch up in just a few steps.

He smiled and asked, “Do you know the reason now, Honoured Lady?”

Chu Lian smiled bitterly. How could she not? After that little incident with the child, it was impossible not to understand the reason.

She sighed lightly and replied, “What Liangzhou City lacks isn’t money. It’s material goods.”

Tang Yan nodded, “How smart, Honoured Lady.”

In Liangzhou City, many of the areas here still used the most basic way of trading: barter. Here, the currency most commonly used wasn’t gold nor silver, or even copper coins. Most of the time, the people here used cows, sheep, or other livestock, as well as cloth, food, and salt.

In the eyes of the commoners of Liangzhou City, a silver ingot that could buy them fifty kilograms of white rice in the capital wasn’t worth as much as a single piece of hard wheat pancake.

No wonder the walls of Liangzhou City were still so dilapidated despite the funds the Ministry of Revenue sent for renovation year after year.

Even before considering the cuts taken from officials going down the chain of command, the amount of goods the funds could purchase was already pitiful the closer one got to Liangzhou. Not only was there a shortage, but even just looking at the cost of transporting materials to the north, the cost was just too high. Goods? What goods? After all was said and done, the amount of things the funds could buy was close to non-existent.

Here, money was practically useless.