Chapter 1331: Hiring another talent
Song Yixu who went to the town where the gold jeweller, she told Yu Dong about lived, had no idea what was going on in the Big River Village. She hummed a soft tune as she walked past the path of the dwindling crowd, behind her was a woman carrying an umbrella to provide her shed from the sun that was blazing hot.
Her long black hair fluttered behind her as she looked at the shops that were closed, even the grain warehouse was shut down.
'Looks like Xieren is not providing grain to this town either,' Song Yixu thought with a frown on her face. While she was travelling to this town, Song Yixu and her procession stopped at many villages and towns. But no matter which town or village it was where she stopped, every single one of them had a common thing.
There was no water or grains. People were starving and living in dire situations. Though Song Yixu tried to help as much as she could, there was a limit to which she could help them. She could only tell the villagers that if they were willing to move to another village and work hard then they go and look for Madam Yu of the Big River Village.
Yu Dong did tell her that she needed to increase the taxes on the villagers since there were not many families in the village and the taxes implemented by Xia Xieren were simply too exorbitant for Yu Dong to pay alone. Though she was the one paying the most of it, with another increase in the taxes imposed, Yu Dong could only increase the taxes collected from the villagers.
If new people were willing to settle in her village, then maybe she would be able to fix the trouble that has been bothering her. Because at this moment, people had money but that money was of no use as the grain warehouses were not selling grains.
In fact this time around, even the grain warehouse managers couldn't be blamed as there were no grains to be sold. With the drought getting worse and worse all over the country, now everyone was relying on the grains that they had stored.
Those who did not have any stored could only wait for death.
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'I hope Madam Yu will not find it bothersome if someone does come looking for her,' Song Yixu thought with complicated emotions. Though she knew that it was her overstepping the boundaries she just couldn't watch the families with young children dying because of starvation. She wasn't so heartless and cruel.
"Ah what a surprise!" One of the workers working under Madam Cui looked at Song Yixu and smiled at her with a smile on her face. "Madam Song, are you here to get another headdress for your father?"
At this moment when grains were even more expensive than gold, even Madam Cui and her workers got caught in sticky trouble. No one was willing to buy gold in these times which had led to a drastic drop in the income of their shops even though they lived in the main hub of the Imperial Capital.
Not to mention that they could not even buy gold from the merchants as they were not travelling anymore in this heat.
Thus when the worker saw Madam Song arrive, she was really happy.
Song Yixu smiled at the worker with an awkward smile and shook her head, "I am not here to buy anything. There is something that I need to discuss with Aunt Cui, is she in the shop?"
The worker was disappointed when she heard Madam Song's response but she nodded politely. She replied, "Madam Cui is inside. Nowadays we are not even getting any more patronage but Madam Cui won't stop opening the shop. She still opens the shop at the same time even if there are no customers."
Seeing Madam Cui wait for the customers like this, it was really troublesome and heart-wrenching.
Song Yixu understood the feelings of the workers. The conditions were indeed not good and seemed really depressing, it was not a surprise that the workers of Madam Cui's shop were looking so aggrieved and sad.
"You are here," Madam Cui who was carving a ring looked up and greeted Song Yixu. "Is there something amiss with the headdress that I made for your father?"
Madam Cui did not think that Song Yixu was here to buy another gold ornament as she knew how difficult it was for people to even eat in such times then how could Song Yixu even be willing to waste any money on gold ornaments when she could use that money to buy grains.
Song Yixu shook her head and then said to Madam Cui, "How is that even possible? The one carved that headdress was you, Madam Cui. There couldn't be any flaw at all."
"Then why did you come here?" Madam Cui asked wearily. Seeing her situation Song Yixu first took out a pouch of water and passed it to Madam Cui and said, "You should drink some water first, Madam Cui."
Madam Cui looked down at the water pouch and did not act prideful. Heavens knew how long had it been since she last drank water that was cool and clean.
She immediately took several gulps from the water pouch and wiped her lips only when she had emptied the pouch more than half.
"Thank you, it has been a long time since I drank such clean water," Madam Cui said to Song Yixu with a wistful look on her face. Who would have thought that, one day they would have such a hard time finding water resources when they used to flow abundantly for ages?
Seeing the sunken cheeks of Madam Cui, Song Yixu couldn't help but remark, "You seem to be having a hard time."
"And you seem to be having a jolly good time," Madam Cui stated while looking at Song Yixu's flushed cheeks. She narrowed her brows and said, "I heard that the Big River Town was also facing drought, but you do not look like it."
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