Bai Shan and Yin Ji said: "We will stay here for three days, one is to worship ancestors, and the other is to visit relatives, so you go and play by yourself first, and we will meet in the city in three days, and then go."
Yin should go down and visit the gods and Buddhas in the mountains with a long life.
After another day of land travel from Longzhou, they arrived at the water's edge.
Bai Shan booked a boat with people half a year in advance, and the people with horses and horses boarded the boat and left.
Apart from the higher cost of the boat, there is nothing wrong with it.
Zhou Man prepared seasickness pills and patches in advance. Those who suffer from seasickness should take medicine and patch them. They went south along the Jialing River, and the boat stopped halfway for supplies three times. Baishan and the others took their children off the boat every time. , Let them take a look at the outside world.
When they arrived in Longzhou, the carriages and horses disembarked, Liu Gui and Zhou's brothers stared at the unloading of the ship together, and Bai Shan and the others took their children into the city to go shopping.
Mrs. Liu's energy is not that good, and she didn't want to go to other places, so she waved her hand and said, "We will wait for you in the inn next to you, you go, just don't go too far, come back early, tomorrow morning I'm going back to Mianzhou."
Bai Shan agreed a few times, hugged the child and left happily.
"Longzhou, I've passed by a few times, but I haven't had a good time yet," Bai Shan asked Yin He, "Would you like to stay and visit famous scholars?"
Yin or shook his head, "I'll go with you to Mianzhou first..."
He smiled and said, "I also want to see what Qili Village looks like."
A few people took their children to a restaurant to eat delicious food, and then started to stroll on the street.
After being on the boat for a long time, they always feel that people are shaking when walking on the street, but the children seem to accept it well, not only eating well on the boat, but also sleeping well, and their condition is better than that of adults.
Zhou Man bought a sugar figurine for each of them, turned around and saw many people gathered in front of a grain store, so he took a second look curiously.
Seeing this, Bai Shan asked a person passing by, "Excuse me, brother, what is this grain store doing?"
The man looked up at Bai Shan, and seeing a child in his arms, he smiled, "Your Majesty is from another place, right? The grain shop in Longzhou has been clearing for the past few days." As for rice, it costs four Wen a liter, and many people come to buy it."
"Chen Mi?" Bai Shan was curious, "How long ago?"
"It's from the year before last, and there are even worse ones from the year before last, but they are all freshly ground, so the taste is almost the same."
Bai Shan glanced at Daji.
Daji squeezed in and bought three cloth bags and came out, each bag containing a few catties of rice.
Bai Shan and the others found a teahouse nearby to sit and wait. Bai Jingxing and Bai Ruoyu were at the time when cats and dogs hated each other, and they couldn't be idle for a moment. As soon as they sat down, they started turning their buttocks to look around.
Ming Da took a look at the two of them, and called the waiter, "Do you have some snacks? Serve some sweet-scented osmanthus cakes for the children."
Trying to block their twittering mouths and eager hands with delicious food.
Daji came over with a cloth bag, opened it for them to see, "There are three kinds of old rice, and the prices are three, four and five."
Zhou Man picked it up, rubbed it and smelled it, "It has a bit of a smell, but it's not heavy, and it hasn't been soaked in sulfur, so it should be released after grinding, well, there are still small stones in it. "
Bai Shan also looked at the other two bags of rice, and one bag was relatively broken. He chewed a few mouthfuls, but the taste was really bad. "It should be three pennies a bucket. Although the taste is not good, the price is indeed very cheap."
Yin or recruited a buddy and asked curiously: "Why is your grain shop suddenly selling old rice at a low price? Could it be this old rice..."
"Guest officer, don't misunderstand, you are from other places, right?"
Several people nodded.
The man laughed and said: "This year's new grain is coming out, and it's a bumper harvest, so the old grain is released in advance to free up the warehouse. If you want me to say that the old grain is not bad, it's just that the taste is not good, but it's so cheap. Even a poor family can eat a few dry meals, isn’t it better than drinking gruel? If it were me, I would be willing to buy it.”
Bai Shan and the others nodded, and when they were about to continue asking, the person at the next table laughed and said, "It's just a show."
Bai Shan and the others looked over and saw that they were all dressed as scribes, obviously scholars, so they stopped the waiter and said, "Give two plates of dim sum and one plate of meat to the next table, and charge them to our account."
The guy who was upset and wanted to refute immediately went happily when he heard it.
The three people at the next table also heard it, and turned their heads to look at it with the same curiosity.
Bai Shan stood up and clasped his hands with them, "Brother, did you mean that there is something else hidden in the grain shop selling rice?"
The three looked at them suspiciously, seeing that they were also gentle and seemed to be scholars, they asked, "Who are you?"
"Oh, we are scholars returning home from other places, and we just stopped by Longzhou for a day," Bai Shan said with a smile: "We have passed through many places along the way south, but it is rare to see a grain shop selling old rice in such a big way. , Judging from the price, they are considered kind, but I don’t think the three brothers agree very much.”
"You can't look at the surface when you look at people, and it's the same when you look at things," said one person, "Don't look at him selling old rice at a lower price, it seems that he is benefiting the people, but you can see that it is not the case."
"Oh?" Bai Shan turned his chair in one direction and sat facing them directly, "I would like to hear more about it."
"Our harvest in Longzhou has been good for the past few years. Although there was a bit of drought in the beginning of spring this year, the rain has kept up with it. Looking at the situation in the field this year, it is time for a bumper harvest." One person said: "A good harvest year, In addition, new rice varieties are planted, and the yield is high, so the price of grain is getting cheaper every year."
He laughed and said: "To be honest, I grew up so big, and it was the first time I saw that a bucket of rice could cost ten renminbi. You know, when Yizhou was hit by floods, the price of rice in our Jiannan Road had been falling for several years." Fifteen or more, even if it fell back later, it was still hovering between twelve and one dou."
"Since the spread of new rice varieties four years ago, the price of grain has been lower every year. Last year, the price of rice in the grain shop was between eight and nine. This year, the price may be even lower," the man said. Come here and sigh, "This is a good thing, but it's not all a good thing. The price of grain is low, and the grain merchants earn less, so they desperately lower the purchase price."
"They released the old rice before the new grain arrived, which can not only clear the warehouse, but also suppress the price of new grain."
Bai Erlang: "You guys are thinking too much, so you can't put the old grain in the warehouse and turn it bad?"
Bai Shan stopped Bai Erlang's words, and said to him: "Old grain has many uses. Generally, grain merchants have a way to deal with it, and they won't lose too much. Selling it directly to the people like this is actually ruining their own business. If That they did so shows that they have other plans."
Bai Erlang is currently writing a storybook for businessmen and famous scholars, and he substituted a bit of his father's image, so he said: "Maybe they just want to do good things? Don't think so badly about people."
Bai Shan shook his head and said, "Fourth Brother would not do such a thing. Businessmen seek profit. This is not to belittle them. This is their...nature, or duty, to find ways to earn more within the law. Isn't it the nature of a businessman to spend money?"
A scribe slammed the table hard and said happily, "That's what it means."