Chapter 35: Donating Grains ( 4 )

Chapter 35: Donating Grains ( 4 ) Thanks to the spiritual spring water, Yao Zhi’s condition had improved by leaps and bounds.


She was now able to reach the town in one hour. When she arrived, she noticed that the town guards were busy registering the merchants and didn’t bother with the commoners.


Seeing this, she heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the security was lacking. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to enter the town without the introduction letter.


To avoid the guards, she pretended to be a local and walked past the gate with a group of young men.


As she walked, her heart was beating fast. When she met the guard’s eyes, she thought that she would be exposed. Unexpectedly, the guard only gave her a glance and averted his gaze.


The moment Yao Zhi stepped into the town, she quickened her steps and went to an inn.


Due to the recent barbarian attack at the northern border town, the number of guests staying in the inn was less than half compared to before.


So when the servant saw a guest walk in, he quickly walked over and said with a smile, "Young Master, are you staying for the night or just dining here?"


Yao Zhi took a seat near the window and said, "Bring me two mantous and two dishes."


Thinking that she only wanted to dine, the servant nodded and poured a cup of tea for her. "Young Master, please wait for a moment."


After the servant left, Yao Zhi looked out the window and saw a group of people crowding in front of a stall. When the servant returned with the food, she pointed at the stall and asked, "Xiao Er, what’s going on there?"


The servant placed the food on the table before he glanced in the direction she pointed at. "Young Master, you must come from outside the town."


Yao Zhi nodded and said, "I came to this town to do some business."


Nodding with understanding, the servant replied, "No wonder you didn’t know the situation in this town. Those people are merchants from other provinces."


"I heard about the General Mansion exchanging treasures for grains. Did they come to donate grains?" Yao Zhi asked.


Hearing this, the servant’s eyes flashed with disgust for a moment. "Those merchants not only refused to help, but they even tried to raise the price of grains. That stall is one of the merchants’ stalls, selling grains."


When she heard this, Yao Zhi frowned and said, "Aren’t there grain stores in this town?"


"We have a total of three grain stores in this town. But because the grain price rose so fast, one of the stores stopped selling its grains.


"The other two limited the purchase and only opened for two hours. Due to this, we had no other choice but to buy grains from those merchants at sky-high prices."


After she got some information from the servant, Yao Zhi gave him five wen as a reward. The servant left after thanking her.


While she ate, she couldn’t help but think about the grain matters. Although she was not smart enough to understand political scheming, she still knew that greed was one aspect of human nature.


Besides power and beauty, what tempted people the most was wealth. With the food shortage, it was normal for some parties to take advantage of the situation to earn money.


Yao Zhi didn’t have any aspiration to help everyone or to change the world. Her current identity was a commoner without any backers. If she went against those merchants, she might end up losing her life.


Right now, she could only do things within her limits. Since her nominal husband was fighting on the border and his life was tied to the White Tiger Army, she would focus on helping them.


After she finished the meal, Yao Zhi had made up her mind. She paid for the food and went to the broker’s office.


If she wanted to donate grains, she couldn’t just take out the grains from her system’s storage. So, she had to rent a place to store the grains first.


Since this was the first time visiting Zhu’an town, Yao Zhi had to ask directions from the pedestrians. It took her an hour to finally reach the broker’s office.


Yao Zhi walked into the two-story building and saw an old man writing behind the counter. Seeing her coming, he smiled and greeted her, "Welcome, Young master. What can I do for you?"


Standing in front of the counter, Yao Zhi said, "Sir, I want to rent a warehouse. Do you have any available?"


The moment he heard this, the middle-aged man nodded and replied, "Young master, my name is Zhen Fu. You can call me Manager Zhen."


Yao Zhi cupped her fists and said, "Greetings, Manager Zhen. My name is Lei Feng."


Zhen Fu took out a booklet and said, "There are several warehouses available for rent, and some are for sale. Young master Lei, please have a look."


Looking at the booklet, Yao Zhi realized that most of the locations for the warehouses were inside the town, and the price was high. She continued to flip the pages until she saw a warehouse located on the outskirts of the town.


She pointed at the warehouse and asked, "Manager Zhen, if I want to rent this place, how much is the cost?"


Zhen Fu looked at the warehouse and replied, "Young master Lei, this warehouse is located on the outskirts, and the security is not as good as that inside the town. You might have to hire bodyguards."


"It’s okay."


Seeing that Yao Zhi didn’t plan to change her mind, he continued, "The cost for this warehouse is five taels of silver for three months."


"If I want to store grains, how much grain can this warehouse hold?"


"This warehouse should be able to store at most twenty thousand dan of grains."


Hearing this, Yao Zhi nodded and said, "I want to rent this place for three months." Then, she reached into her sleeves and took out a pouch. She placed five taels of silver on the counter.