flstandardbreds Chapter 160 The Villagers Who Are Reluctant to Spend Money
Chapter 160 The Villagers Who Are Reluctant to Spend Money
The entrance to the county town is flat, and Wang Quangui carefully considered and chose a corner. The hillside here has a concave angle, which Wang Quangui and his men dug into two earth slopes with an angle of 120 degrees. One of the long sides is used as a wall, and the other narrow side is used as a door for everyone to enter and exit. This door is directly made of a door panel covered with oil cloth. If it is cold, a torn quilt is added inside the door panel to prevent wind.
The six carriages of the Wang family plus four carts could just make two walls. The roof was covered with tarpaulin.
Find a way to block the air leak in the middle.
Su He was quite disgusted after seeing this weird and fragile earthquake house, but when it got dark, he went in faster than anyone else.
Huddled in the dark room, Su He's mind was full of modern tents and sleeping bags. Why didn't she think of buying a few? But then she thought again, she wouldn't dare to use them even if she bought them.
When I have free time, I will definitely study the ancient camping equipment. There are still decades to come and you never know when you might need it.
The Wang family stayed in this simple earthquake-proof house for four days. They experienced countless aftershocks, both large and small, and the oilcloth above their heads had to be changed twice in four days.
That afternoon, Shunzi and his family skillfully swept the snow beside the carriage, and then climbed onto the roof of the carriage to sweep the snow on the oilcloth.
Zhou led people to boil water, and this time they were going to let everyone wash off the dirt on their bodies. This was not a bath, but just washing the face and hands, and then patting the dirt on the body and the dust on the head with wet cotton cloth.
It took two hours for more than thirty people to finish washing.
"Three elderly people passed away in Dahe Village today, and one died of excessive blood loss due to leg sprains. Four people passed away in Sanshi Village, two adults and two children. There were even more people in Liushu Village, twelve in total today. Most of them died because they caught a cold and were reluctant to buy medicine."
Ma kept telling her family that she went to the village behind to gather intelligence every day. She was young and strong enough to do this job, and she had been doing it for four days.
"Many of them have fled to the city and settled there. They didn't tell the village chief when they left, and we don't know whether they are dead or alive now."
Grandma and the women in the family each had a hot water bottle in hand, and drank a bowl of ginger and brown sugar water made by Su He, and the coldness in their bodies was mostly dissipated. Listening to the intelligence from the rear sent by Ma, she sighed.
"I was reluctant to buy anything. Now, when I die, the money will be taken away by others."
This story was told about a family in Liushu Village. The family of five was reluctant to buy ginger or water, let alone a hot water bottle, so they just built a fire and froze to death.
When everyone found out the next day, all his belongings had been taken away.
"They are all used to being poor. They are reluctant to spend even a copper coin. Who would be willing to buy ginger at 80 wen per pound, let alone a hot water bottle at 2 taels of silver?"
In the past, Su He was the one who bought food. They were very happy because they didn't have to spend the money and they could have three meals a day. Now that the money is in their hands, it is harder than climbing Mount Everest to get them to spend it.
"Alas, let's not talk about anything else. The blind family in our village is really too depressed. They made 70 or 80 taels of silver from selling sweet potatoes before, and they also found silver in the valley. When the five of them arrived in Su'an, they divided nearly 40 taels of silver. Why can't they bear to spend it to buy some ginger? It's really..."
Zhou used to be a person who would rather spend every penny, but now that she has been influenced by Su He and has more money in her hands, she has become more open-minded. She looks down on the blind man's family for throwing away their lives to save a few dozen cents.
If Su He said this, Zhou was the one who was fifty steps away from the other. Although Zhou was willing to spend money to buy ginger, she was reluctant to put too much. She stepped down within a day of taking over the ginger and brown sugar water because the men in the family disliked that her ginger water was not tasty enough and could not get rid of the cold, so Su He took over the job again with honor.
Although Su He spent money freely, he could understand the blind man's family's behavior. Poverty is not something that can be cured easily. Even if he gave them another 80 taels, he would not be willing to buy ginger at wen per pound. Habits and thoughts engraved in their bones are difficult for them to overcome.
Just like the modern people born in the fifties and sixties, they experienced hunger since childhood, and when they become rich, they like to stock up on goods. No matter how their children try to persuade them, it is useless, as they only feel at ease when they see food in the house.
"Those black-hearted people, the blind man's family was buried by the village chief, nothing was left on them."
Su He sighed softly, "Those villagers who came into the city might have taken the blind man's family's money. They were afraid that the village chief would follow my method and search them, so they thought that we would have no way to stop them if they came into the city."
Su He's guess was indeed correct. The blind man's silver was searched by the two families next door. One family got eighty taels, plus a few gold bracelets. The two families discussed overnight and decided to go to the city to take shelter. Anyway, they were now living in the open air outside the city, so they might as well go to the city.
The two families walked together.
As he was speaking, the three village chiefs arrived.
Su He treated each of them to a bowl of ginger water, and the three village chiefs rubbed their hands and took it with a smile.
"Cough cough cough cough cough."
"Oh, by the way, the ginger water I made is quite strong, so everyone please be careful."
Su He reminded him somewhat awkwardly. Wang Zhun and the others coughed until their faces were covered with tears, and their whole bodies became hot from the coughing.
Everyone sat in the somewhat dark room, and Suhe lit an oil lamp.
"Village Chief, are there many people missing from our Tianyuan Village?"
Su He's words made the three village chiefs' eyes red. The people who left were their companions who had lived together for many years, as well as familiar elders and children. They were all heartbroken.
"There are still 81 people in Dahe Village, 88 in Sanshi Village, and more than a dozen people died in Liushu Village in the past few days. Three families left, and several families went to the city to find doctors, and they haven't returned yet. There are currently 360 people left."
So now there are only 529 people left in the entire Tianyuan Village.
"At least half of the people who stayed behind have caught a cold. The price of medicine in the city has suddenly increased. People in the village went to buy it. It was five cents of silver three days ago, but now it costs three taels of silver. No one is willing to drink it."
Su He sighed. If she were the housekeeper, she would have bought it when she first arrived.
"I have to buy it no matter how expensive it is. Who will I give the money to if someone dies? Have you forgotten the tragedy of the blind man's family?"
"We got this money for free, so it's a good deal if we spend it to save our own lives."
Su He also felt helpless. They bought a lot of medicine on the first day of the earthquake, and it was impossible to distribute it to the entire Tianyuan Village. However, they could share some with the three village heads.
"Village Chief, do you have anything to say?"
Su He felt the gloomy atmosphere in the room, and looking at the people who were immersed in sorrow, he felt that he could not continue to be so negative.
"Yes, we haven't seen an earthquake for a while, so we wanted to ask Lotus if there will be no more earthquakes."
Su He looked at the village chief's expectant eyes and felt a little helpless. How could she know this? It was something that even modern high technology could not predict 100%, so she couldn't see it at all.
"I can't tell. But I've been thinking about it these past two days. This earthquake can't just affect Su'an County. I estimate that nearby villages and towns are also affected. We should be thankful that it's winter now. If it were summer, there would be a plague by now."