The azure sky was calm with not a cloud in sight, but saying that in itself was a little strange. Ever since the beginning of spring, the weather had been extremely hot and not a single drop of rain had fallen. All the farm crops drooped lifelessly, appearing even more wretched than the withered and dry grass in late autumn.
Ruan Zhu sat on top of the brocade mattress, resting against the window as she stared outside. She inwardly sighed. Surviving in an era that relied on the Heavens was not easy. It looked like this year’s harvest was over, but the consequences of famine were probably not as serious as how they portrayed it on TV, right?
“What are you thinking, hmm?”
Yun Shi Yi felt bored since the start of the journey. He always read to pass the time, but the books he preferred, Ruan Zhu didn’t understand them. She had also stayed silent, which he was unaccustomed to.
“Look, the crops in the fields are all dying. Why have the Heavens not made it rain yet?” Ruan Zhu turned her head around and suddenly remembered something: “What will happen to the tenant farmers of Yun clan? Would’t it be disastrous if the crops don’t grow?”
“Since they are our tenants, how could Mother and Father turn a blind eye and not care if they starve to death? Following the previously set standards, we will lend them a portion of foodstuffs and they will reimburse us with the next year’s harvest.”
Ruan Zhu made an oh in response. Were all feudal landowners like this? Or was it just specific individuals? Or else how could history have recorded the deaths of so many people from starvation, even reaching the atrocity of human consumption? But thinking more deeply about this, perhaps cannibalism wasn’t that terrible and frightening? In 《Robinson Crusoe》, before Friday had become civilized, his race was fond of eating human meat. If he hadn’t been saved by Robinson, he would have long been taken by others and thoroughly cooked and consumed.[FOOTNOTE HERE, A]
In that world, they ate human meat even when there was no shortage of actual food–the Europeans were indeed uncivilized.[FOOTNOTE HERE, B] Fortunately, she had transmigrated into the motherland and the country of Tian Chu that she was currently in could be classified as the Song dynasty from her previous space-time. At this time, Europe was going backwards as smallpox ran unchecked and famine was everywhere. If she had transmigrated there, it was obvious how idiotic of a choice that would have been. Hee hee……[FOOTNOTE HERE, C]
“What are you foolishly laughing for?” Yun Shi Yi gently tapped her head with the book in his hands.
“Who is foolishly laughing?” Ruan Zhu wrested the book away from him and cast it into the corner of the carriage. “Looking at the current situation, this autumn’s famine may be critical. How about stockpiling more foodstuffs? At that time when the price of food soars, there would be quite a bit of profit, hmm?”
An outstanding businessman required foresight. By buying in bulk at the opportune times and then reselling when the occasion is right, the profit earned by these transactions would not be able to be counted.
Yun Shi Yi’s eyes turned frosty and a cold voice issued from his mouth: “I will not profit from something that goes against my conscience. Soaring grain prices has always been unfair as it forces the common people to have no alternative but to lose their family fortunes and at worst, sell their sons or their daughters in order to afford a mouthful of food. Even if they did end up surviving in the end, they would have nothing left to their name.”
Ruan Zhu looked at him at a loss, with equal amounts of admiration and gloominess swirling in her eyes: “Who asked you to earn such dirty money? The common people will surely resent and bear grudges against the merchants that take advantage of the famine to raise the price of grain. If at that time, an utterly fearless person supplied them with reasonably priced grain that stabilized the market, that person would see both fame and fortune and become the big hero of the common people inside the city walls of Lan Zhou. What you currently lack is not money but reputation. When you have reputation, even if the local authorities want to move against you, they have to first consider how the commoners in Lan Zhou would react. If the officials lose the popular sentiment, then they won’t be able to wear their wushamao for long.”
YOU ARE READING
Husbands Seeking Love
Romance[C O M P L E T E] The day she transmigrated it, she was already the wife of two men. She later became the Queen of the country. Her life has been cherished by seven men.
