Chapter 90 - 90 Do You Think We're Beggars?
90 Do You Think We’re Beggars?
After Bai Wutong learned that there was only one stream in the deep mountains, she could not help but sigh. “The road ahead is difficult.”
Without water, they would have to dig a canal.
As long as the war did not end, the food restrictions would not end. Even if the war ended, it would be difficult for the citizens to recover for a while. If Bai Wutong wanted to live a carefree life where she could buy food at any time, the time was probably still far away.
She could only resign herself to farming first.
But for now, the most important thing was to repair the house so that everyone could have a real place to stay.
There were many good materials to repair houses in the mountains.
Bai Wutong had just touched the soil on the ground. After mixing in gravel, it could be used as the osmium soil that was second only to concrete in terms of building walls. It would be red on the surface, just like the walls of the Forbidden City.
They could start building the house the next day. While cutting trees and repairing the house, they continued to explore the wasteland. Both activities proceeded in an orderly manner.
After dinner, Bai Wutong quickly designed a blueprint and gathered everyone for a meeting to explain her idea.
Hearing that they were going to repair the house, everyone was very happy and enthusiastically agreed with Bai Wutong’s decision.
Bai Wutong took out the house blueprint she had designed and said, “I want to build this kind of house. The structure is simple and we can live in it after at most ten days. It’s very suitable for us to build it with the materials available.”
Of course, they had to fix the house properly in one go to prevent it from being damaged again and wasting their energy.
After Bai Wutong and Chu Tianbao’s house was repaired, everyone would definitely come to ask. She might as well take out the blueprint and let everyone repair it themselves.
She also tried to pay as much attention as possible as she drew the blueprints. She didn’t want the blueprint to deviate too much from the houses in this world.
It would be fine so long as it was both beautiful and comfortable.
However, after she took out the three-dimensional sketch blueprint, everyone’s eyes widened involuntarily.
The house blueprint designed by Bai Wutong was based on the best earthquake-proof structure in China. Although it did not use much wood, the structure that supported the house was extremely sturdy.
On the basis of modern minimalism, the appearance of the house combined the most exquisite ancient-style design in China. It was simple yet classy.
Bai Wutong was most satisfied with the layout inside. The toilet, bedroom, study, guest room, utility room, and kitchen were allocated properly. The bedroom was designed with soundproof walls and was quite private.
What surprised everyone the most was that Bai Wutong had even designed ground heating in the house. As long as the kitchen burned firewood, the entire house would heat up from top to bottom.
The uncomplicated floor heating design that could warm up a house just happened to be something that the palace did not have yet.
They all looked at her as if she was a genius, making Bai Wutong’s heart skip a beat.
She just wanted it to be cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. It would look better on the outside and the house would be sturdier. Was this… shocking?
She glanced at her blueprint again to make sure that it was all good. She coughed lightly and gestured for everyone to retract their stunned eyes. “There’s wood and soil ready. We can repair the house tomorrow. If you think the blueprint is good, you can also repair it according to my house.”
Everyone was just about to ask if they could borrow Bai Wutong’s blueprint. However, their house should not look completely like Bai Wutong’s on the exterior. At the very least, they should just implement the floor heating design.
When Bai Wutong took the initiative to let them use it, everyone was overjoyed. They wished they could repair the house immediately.
After deciding on the repair of the house the next day, everyone discussed how to make the most of their manpower.
After a long discussion, everyone got the clearest division of labor.
…
After they finished their food the next day, there would be nothing left to eat.
Bai Wutong looked at the endless mountains behind everyone and sighed again. There were so many people. Even if they caught prey, how many people could it feed?
Bai Wutong said to Qingfeng, “Bring some people to town to buy food. Buy as much as you can.”
Qingfeng took the banknotes from Bai Wutong. The heads of the 30 families of Qinghe also took out the banknotes and handed them to Qingfeng. They even sent people to follow her.
Village Chief Zhao could not bear to buy such expensive food, but he could not let Bai Wutong pay for them either. He could only grit his teeth and take out some silver first. Anyway, the 30 families of Qinghe still had to make furniture. They could help make it and earn money to buy food.
Everyone took out banknotes. Only Village Chief Zhao took out a bag of copper coins. It was inevitable that it looked a little pathetic. However, everyone was filled with respect for the villagers of Zhao’s farmyard for being so financially independent.
Qingfeng brought her men to the city and returned before dark. However, she did not bring back a single grain.
Bai Wutong looked at Qingfeng. “Why didn’t you buy any food?” Even if they bought according to the number of people, Qingfeng and the others wouldn’t return home empty-handed.
Qingfeng said, “We don’t have a household register. None of the rice and grain shops in town dare to sell to us.”
Bai Wutong frowned. “Did you explain the situation to the government office?”
Qingfeng nodded and said, “Yes, they said that the food is only sold to people with household registration now. Duke Chu has just changed his policy. He probably wants to use this to dissuade the refugees from continuing to migrate.”
Duke Chu was probably afraid that after the Yan Kingdom had fallen, all the refugees would crowd over and the original land would become barren land.
Bai Wutong sighed. They had really come at a bad time.
Money made the world go round. Bai Wutong’s gaze landed in the distance. “Bring some people to the village next door and ask if you can buy food.”
Village Chief Zhao was the best at dealing with villagers. Since Bai Wutong did not say anything, he took the initiative to ask to go with Qingfeng and the others.
Qingfeng and the others walked steadily on the rugged path wheras Village Chief Zhao panted as he followed behind. Seeing that he was struggling to keep up, Qingfeng got someone to carry him on the back and arrived at the neighboring village.
There were about 200 families in the village. It was not a small village, so there should be some food stored.
When the people at the entrance of the village saw them holding weapons, they immediately looked over warily. The old man in the lead shouted coldly, “What do you want?”
Village Chief Zhao could tell that he was the village chief. He climbed down from the back of the dark guard and said politely, “Brother, don’t be nervous. We’re villagers who just moved to the Jade Spiritual Mountain to explore the land. We want to buy some food from you.”
Wang Fengjing looked at them coldly and said bluntly, “Food is a precious thing now. We don’t even have enough to eat. How much money do you have to buy food?” Wang Fengjing’s eyes were filled with disdain. He thought that the refugees were maggots who couldn’t take out a single thing and were blocking people in the city every day to beg for food.
Village Chief Zhao smiled good-naturedly and gestured. “Brother, it wasn’t easy for us to get here. What do you think of this number?”
Wang Fengjing’s lips curled into a cold smile. “Do you think we’re beggars?!” It was 20% lower than the price in the city. At the same time, he was quite surprised that they actually had money. He sized them up and raised his chin, demanding an exorbitant price. “Give us this number! Then we will sell you some food!”
He made a gesture that was three times the price of a grain store.