Chapter 454 - Chapter 454: Chapter 454: Buying People to Store Grain (1/2)

Chapter 454: Chapter 454: Buying People to Store Grain

She returned to buy cotton and cold-weather items, and after paying, she asked them to deliver the goods to her home, and then hurried back home.

By the time she returned, the grains from the two rice and grain shops had been delivered one after the other.

The towering pile of grains completely filled two rooms, leaving Old Cheng stunned and somewhat tongue-tied!

“Madam, why did you buy so much grain?”

Liu Sisi peeked in, her eyes like serene autumn waters.

“It’s not too much! With more people in our household in the future, these grains will just be enough for a year’s consumption! Besides, this pile is not all rice; there are also quite a number of coarse grains!”

She had calculated this based on the number of people.

Pondering the money spent today, there were exactly 70 loads of rice and 70 loads of pure flour. A load is 100 jin (a traditional Chinese unit of weight), which is more than enough for a family to eat for two to three years. There were also buckwheat, corn, black beans, etc., which added up to several dozen loads. Then, there were the expenditures on cotton, furniture, and various other sundries from the day before — all added up, she had spent nearly 500 taels of silver.

The sheer amount gave Liu Sisi quite a scare! Was it really that much?

It really isn’t easy to earn money but so easy to spend it!

Actually, it wasn’t that Liu Sisi was ruthless in buying so much, but when she arrived at the rice and grain store, her heart started pounding fiercely. Her instinct told her to buy this much grain. The intuition came too suddenly, so much so that she didn’t know how to explain it. She could only follow her instinct and buy, and explain it to Di Yelei when he returned home.

On one hand, she instructed Old Cheng to sort out the cellar, on the other hand, she thought about how to store these grains.

“Madam, the cellar is already filled with grains. The servant has already made two trips to bring back grains and put them in the cellar in the last two days. How can we accommodate so much more today?”

Liu Sisi held her forehead, regretting. How could she forget about the large amount of grains they had brought back two days ago!

Regret as she might, since the grains had been bought, they would have to be quickly divided and stored separately.

However, Liu Sisi didn’t regret for long before Di Yelei returned!

And he brought back a big family with him.

Liu Sisi hurriedly brought out the food, which the family eagerly took. Di Yelei stuffed a few steamed buns into his mouth before he finally caught his breath.

“This is a family of seven. Their house, pledged for a loan security, was buried in an avalanche. In order to repay the debt, they had to sell themselves into servitude. They were priced at 55 taels of silver. I have already talked with them, the husband and younger brother will help with the spring military recruitment, although their price is 10 taels more expensive than others.”

“55 taels of silver? For their family of seven?” Liu Sisi looked surprised.

She was struck by the thought that a family of seven was only worth 55 taels of silver, life was indeed cheap in these times! Even Di Yelei’s ‘old mother’ looked like she was just over fifty years old.

However, she remembered that when Di Yelei married her, it only cost them ten taels of silver. Thinking about it this way, it seemed quite reasonable.