Stepmom's Farm Life

Chapter 22 Return with a Full Load

There were so many things that the family owed, from small things like needles and thread, pots and pans, and oil lamps, to big things like tables, chairs, benches, beds, clothes, quilts, rice, and flour, etc. There was nothing left, and everything needed to be bought.

Qin Yao toured the entire Kaiyang County and bought everything she needed.

Four hundred kilograms of fine rice, one hundred kilograms of fine flour, fifty kilograms of soybeans, and fifty kilograms of millet, a total of six hundred kilograms of food, enough for her and her four children to eat for four months, so that they can get through the winter well.

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

Of course, the main reason is that Qin Yao has a big appetite and can eat as much as five people. If it were other families, 600 kilograms of porridge could last for more than half a year.

Don't ask her why she doesn't save money and buy brown rice and coarse noodles.

Because she couldn't swallow that stuff at all.

The so-called brown rice should be more appropriately called rice bran. It contains only 40% rice, and the remaining 60% is rice bran.

The same goes for coarse noodles, almost half of which are bran, and the noodles steamed with water will choke your throat.

Although there is an extreme shortage of supplies in the end times, the dietary structure is different from that in ancient times. People are so poor that they cannot afford to eat, and they really cannot afford to eat.

Once there is food, it is either instant noodles, biscuits, etc. that can be stored for a long time, or food from agricultural bases.

Rice bran has long disappeared from the human diet.

So, let alone brown rice and coarse noodles, even whole grains that are meant for weight loss will feel tasteless to modern people after just a few bites.

Since she has that ability, Qin Yao has no intention of mistreating her stomach. Not being able to eat properly is even more uncomfortable than being chased by mutated zombies.

After buying the food, Qin Yao went to the cloth shop and bought three ten-pound quilts, three thin quilts, and three palm bark mats.

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

The red color is saved for making new clothes for the New Year. The children in the family all look like their father, with well-developed facial features. If they are dressed up well, they will definitely be very pleasing to the eye.

A piece of cloth was fifteen meters long and about one meter and two meters wide, which was enough for their family of five to wear two sets of clothes, with some left over.

Qin Yao didn't know how to make clothes at all, so she bought needle and thread and planned to go home and find someone to help her make them.

The store sells ready-made clothes, which are second-hand and probably taken out as collateral from a pawn shop.

Qin Yao saw that the price was reasonable, and then looked at her own linen clothes which were so dirty that they were unbearable to look at. She decisively picked out a set for herself, and also bought one for each of her four children.

Each person got a pair of shoes. Qin Yao wore leather boots, and the four children wore cloth shoes, all of which were half-worn.

Her shoes did fit her feet, but the people were used to being simple, so the sizes were a bit larger, and the four pairs of shoes for the children were not the correct size.

But children grow fast, so just wear socks and put thick insoles on them, and they will fit their feet.

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

It cost ten taels of silver to get all of this.

When checking out, Qin Yao gasped and thought that the cloth was too expensive. No wonder everyone bought the materials and made it at home.

After leaving the cloth shop, Qin Yao went to the grocery store and bought all the daily necessities such as oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, pots, pans, and bowls.

However, I couldn't find a store that sold ready-made furniture, so I could only accept custom-made carpentry jobs. The furniture had to be put aside temporarily, and I would find a nearby carpenter to help me make a few pieces after I returned to the village.

After buying all the things, Qin Yao rented an ox cart at the north gate for thirty cents, took the driver to load the purchased food, and set off back to Liujia Village with the full cart.

The ox cart was full of things and there was no place to sit, so Qin Yao walked with the driver.

The road from Kaiyang County to Jinshi Town is all official. Today the weather is clear and the road is relatively easy to drive on.

Qin Yao counted the remaining silver in her hand as she walked.

This cartload of stuff cost her eighteen taels of silver, and now she had sixty-seven taels and three cents of silver left.

Qin Yao planned to save fifty taels and not use them for emergencies. She planned to use the remaining seventeen taels to make some decent furniture, repair the broken hut, reinforce the walls, build two more rooms, build a washroom and kitchen, and then build the wall.

The most important thing about walls is that without them, there is no privacy at all. You won't feel safe leaving things at home, as you'll always be worried that they might be stolen.

There is also a wall, which can protect against wild animals coming down the mountain to look for food in winter, and it can also allow you to sleep more peacefully.

The second thing is to repair the existing main structure of the house. The thatched roof that can be blown away by strong winds must be replaced with sturdy waterproof tiles.

However, if you want to cover the roof with tiles, the beams and walls of the house must be reinforced.

Qin Yao only had a vague understanding of these things and decided to ask the people in the Liu family's old house when the time comes.

She saw that Old Man Liu and his two sons were repairing her roof and they looked very capable.

Qin Yao could see that the people in the old house were simply worried about this bastard Liu Ji.

I don't know if all the children who can cry out get candy, but Old Man Liu does favor his son Liu Ji.

Even he himself may not be aware of this bias.

Qin Yao was doing the math, imagining that she would be able to sleep in a sturdy house and on a spacious and warm bed this winter. The corners of her mouth curled up unconsciously, and she walked with the wind.

The driver couldn't catch up with her and shouted. Qin Yao then reacted and slowed down a little.

She ate well and slept well last night. Today she changed into clean clothes and put on sturdy leather boots. She looked very different. The dejection on her face was gone. She carried a bow and held a knife, looking quite elegant like a chivalrous woman.

The driver was not talkative. Qin Yao wanted to know more about this place, so she chatted with him.

Only then did he learn from the other party that in Kaiyang County there were many rebels from the previous dynasty who had transformed themselves into bandits and often ran down the mountain to rob the people.

The local government was incompetent and the wealthy businessmen were suffering.

When Qin Yao heard this, she suddenly became worried about her truckload of goods.

The driver saw her worry and finally took the initiative to say, "Don't be alarmed, young lady. They don't like to come to our remote place."

The driver said, "These bandits like to go to the neighboring town the most. The official road there leads directly to the city, and there are many merchants along the way. They want to make money, so they naturally go there."

"But young lady, you'd better be more careful when you go out alone on weekdays."

He heard that many decent women were abducted to the mountains and tortured and humiliated to death by these bandits in extremely brutal ways, so he kindly reminded Qin Yao.

"Thank you for the reminder. I understand." Qin Yao nodded gratefully to the driver. She would be more careful.

It seems that the public security situation in ancient times was not much better than in the apocalypse.

The journey was relatively smooth for the two, except that the wheels got stuck a few times. But with Qin Yao there, they were able to push the car out, and in the evening, they arrived at Liujia Village smoothly.

Qin Yao was thinking about the four little ones at home and was eager to go home.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she entered the village, she felt a strange atmosphere.

(End of this chapter)