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Chapter 13
Their food supplies were genuinely insufficient.
If they couldn’t find more grain soon, the porridge station wouldn’t last through today, then trouble would ensue.
“Everything has been prepared except for rice. Additionally, there’s some flour which you can boil with water into paste. It cooks faster than porridge, therefore saving firewood.”
Shen You stood up, walked to the garage where rice and flour were stored, then opened a jute sack of rice for them to inspect.
When the two men saw the plump grains of rice in the bag, their faces immediately filled with delight.
It was high-quality white rice!
Husking rice was extremely laborious work. Ordinary farm households primarily ate brown rice that hadn’t completely shed its bran, thus appearing light yellow.
In a place like Yunzhou where conditions were even worse, they had originally thought that if the shopkeeper could obtain some brown rice, it would be quite good.
Unexpectedly, the food was of such high quality.
Furthermore, this flour was fine and clean. Even in the capital city, ordinary citizens might not eat such quality more than twice a month!
First removing impurities, then grinding wheat so finely wasn’t an easy task.
Yet this shop’s owner had accomplished it in merely two days?
Zhong Jing took a small amount in his hand and inexplicably felt so moved he wanted to cry.
If their Great Qi could also procure such food anytime and as desired, how wonderful it would be! Then there would be no disaster victims starving to death.
“Thank you, shopkeeper. You are really a benefactor to Yunzhou’s disaster victims!” Zhong Jing bowed deeply to Shen You.
“That’s really unnecessary.” Shen You extended her hand to stop him.
“I run this shop to do business. Besides, these things aren’t considered difficult where I come from.”
She felt unworthy of the title “benefactor”, preferring instead to maintain cold business relationships.
This was what Shen You thought, but in Zhong Jing and Liu Zheng’s minds, her image elevated further.
She had stepped in at a critical moment to resolve their urgent problem, yet spoke about it so casually.
Her room full of glazed objects and rare treasures suggested she wasn’t helping them for financial gain.
The more Zhong Jing thought about it, the more he believed she was really a transcendent expert.
“Shopkeeper, are these items sufficient as payment for the grain?”
Liu Zheng brought in two wooden boxes, placed them on the table, then opened them.
“They’re sufficient.” Shen You smiled her business smile on the outside while she was nearly jumping with joy on the inside.
The wooden boxes looked to be made of huanghuali wood of decent quality. This wood was favored by wealthy households in ancient times for furniture. What’s more, Ming and Qing dynasty huanghuali furniture commanded high prices at auctions.
These ordinary boxes couldn’t compare, but they were still nice for displaying items in the shop.
More importantly were the contents of the boxes.
A box carved entirely from jade, also a jade bracelet sculpted in the design of two dragons holding a pearl.
Some ornaments were arranged beside the jade box, made of jade or gold, among which two hairpins were particularly exquisite.
Pearls formed a three-dimensional flower shape, with a large blue gemstone in the center that seemed to shimmer in the light.
Although these natural seawater pearls weren’t perfectly round, they were nevertheless far more valuable than modern cultured pearls, furthermore their luster appeared much more lustrous.
The other hairpin was carved from jadeite with exquisite details, naturally emanating an ethereal quality.
But the folding fan placed in the slightly smaller box was actually the most valuable item.
It was completely snow-white, carved from ivory!
Fortunately, it showed signs of being a collected and handled item, otherwise, this would be quite problematic.
Ivory products available for purchase in the market were now only antique collectables.
“You mentioned earlier that Yunzhou was harsh and cold, so where did you find so many treasures in just two days?” Shen You asked.
“Please rest assured, shopkeeper, the items’ origins are absolutely legitimate.” Liu Zheng explained.
“The folding fan was confiscated from a corrupt official’s home. These accessories are all new. His Highness instructed that items sent here must be flawless.
The bracelet and pearl flower hairpin are from the imperial family. After our last transaction, His Highness sent people to arrange it.”
More accurately, this happened after they witnessed the miraculous effectiveness of the medicine given by this shop.
His Highness had said that the small items displayed in this young lady’s shop were all exquisite, which meant that she preferred these beautiful objects over silver.
Shen You nodded, recognizing those imperial items.
Would ordinary people dare to wear a jade bracelet carved with dragon heads?
Wouldn’t that mean they were tired of living?
“Do you think these food supplies are enough?”
Since their items were so valuable, if the supplies weren’t sufficient, she could still provide after-sales service by buying more from another wholesale market.
“They’re about right, but,” Zhong Jing paused, “if there were some lower-quality grain mixed in, that would be better. Such good flour might tempt people to steal.”
“I can find broken rice and crushed corn of lower quality. Would you like that?”
In modern times, nobody ate such broken rice. It was used for brewing cheap rice wine or feeding poultry.
Crushed corn was similar. People ate only improved high-quality varieties. Those less palatable old varieties were dried and crushed to sell to farms.
She couldn’t directly provide such items to people as it would make her appear heartless, so she had first brought a batch of ordinary grain.
This way the customers could choose whether they wanted it or not.
“Yes, yes!” Zhong Jing nodded repeatedly.
The most important thing for a disaster relief porridge station was preventing starvation, so the quality wasn’t a consideration.
They originally intended to mix brown rice with the flour to make porridge anyway, which would make it last longer. Additionally, those who weren’t starving naturally wouldn’t come.
“Then come directly to collect the items when it’s the Hai Hour tonight.”
Shen You checked prices on her phone.
Buying grain that both humans could eat yet also serve as feed made the reason much simpler.
“What would we need to trade for this next batch of grain?”
Liu Zheng calculated that all the previously prepared jewelry had been sent over. From the corrupt official’s several houses of confiscated items, the most unique and exquisite was that fan.
He didn’t dare send the remaining several large boxes of gold and less valuable items here, afraid that the shopkeeper would disdain them.
“There’s no need. These items are sufficient.” Shen You told him.
The exquisite ivory fan would start at several million at auction, not to mention the other items.
She couldn’t make too much profit on the price difference, then additionally charge them again.
Moreover, today’s customer quota was filled.
Hearing her words, the two men thanked her profusely again. Before leaving, Liu Zheng said hesitantly, “Shopkeeper, may I ask your full name?”
“Shen You.”
To major customers with whom she had done business several times, Shen You didn’t conceal her identity.
“Then, Shopkeeper Shen, we’ll take our leave now.”
After the two men left the shop, Shen You immediately called the grain wholesale owner from last time.
“Young lady, your friend uses such good products for a farm?” The boss started recommending, “I have an even cheaper kind mixed with bran that’s more economical.”
“No thanks. That farm follows a high-end approach, feeding their pigs watermelons better than what I eat. They won’t accept cheaper options.”
Shen You hung up, immediately sent the deposit, then requested that the goods be delivered by this evening without fail.
Then when the time was right, she took the items from the boxes, placed them in the storage compartment, then took the boxes upstairs to store them properly.
Then closing the [Great Qi] shop, she began her day of supervision.