Chapter 15: Raise Your Voice Against Injustice

"You're spouting nonsense," Hu San countered, "I paid a total of twenty-seven wen, twenty-five for the grain and two for the cloth bag. Where did I go wrong?"

"The cloth bags here at Manager Wan's shop cost three wen each. I just tricked you, and you fell for it."

Nanzhi had a 'see I told you so' expression, which irritated Hu San. He thought how can such a pretty young woman be so annoying with her words.

"I must have remembered it wrong. I paid twenty-eight wen in total," Hu San continued to retort.

"You're wrong again," Nanzhi shook her head, wondering who the hell hired such a rogue. How could such a person accomplish anything?

Hu San's face was turning the color of liver; he was afraid he was not going to make any money this time.

"So where did I go wrong?" He asked.

"Manager Wan has a kind heart; he never charges for grain bags."

A watching woman couldn't stand it any longer and chimed in, her voice full of disdain.

After all, weren't they all here to watch the show? Who could be so stupid not to understand the situation?

Probably some household was trying to mess with Manager Wan, thus causing this unfortunate incident.

Hu San was dumbfounded. He watched as the spectators busied themselves with their departures. Manager Wan led Nanzhi and her party into the grain shop. He suddenly felt a sense of failure.

"Thank you, ma'am, for your help." Wan, the Manager, bowed respectfully. He was once a scholar but couldn't achieve much. He came back to take over the family business and had been living quietly for many years before he got entangled with this ruffian.

"It's nothing," Nanzhi waved her hand dismissively. She just couldn't stand unfairness. Good people deserve good fate; she wished for heaven to drop more pies on her.

"Ma'am, are you here to buy grain?" Manager Wan looked at the three strong men behind Nanzhi, each carrying a sack of grain.

"Yes, but I'm not sure if the grain price has gone up."

"You are in luck, the price hasn't gone up today. However, it's likely to increase by one wen tomorrow."

Knowing that the price had not changed, Nanzhi breathed a sigh of relief. She was about to inspect the grain when she felt a tug on her sleeve. She turned around to see it was Auntie Liu.

Nanzhi was a little puzzled and asked her in a low voice, "Auntie Liu, what's up?"

Liu Da Niang looked at the Manager Wan, who was greeting a shop assistant, and whispered, "Girl, didn't that man say that the grain in this shop is more expensive? Let's check it out first. I'll have Yun Tian to check out the prices at other shops."

Although Nanzhi hesitated, she finally nodded.

She had bought grain here before, but Aunt Liu had not. Aunt Liu had many mouths to feed at home. She was likely to buy a lot of grain and if it could be cheaper, the saved money could be used to buy more food.

She had also been thinking about how much grain her household needed. Her family didn't own a field, they couldn't self-sustain. It wasn't a problem to buy more, but she didn't know how to store it efficiently.

She remembered there was a cellar in her house. It had been empty for more than two years because there was no grain to store.

Manager Wan sighed in relief when he saw his son walking down from the attic. Then he turned to Nanzhi's group and asked, "May I know how much grain would you like to purchase, Ma'am?"

The fourteen-fifteen years old boy was yawning. He seemed to have heard some commotion earlier, but he was too tired and lazy to go downstairs.

His father had to wake him up just now.

The boy was clueless that his mild-mannered father had almost been swindled by a crook.

"We probably want to buy a lot. Can we get it cheaper if we buy more?"

"It's not possible to reduce the price of the grain, but we can give some soybeans as a gift."

The boy pointed to a side of the soybeans as he spoke.

Manager Wan, who was about to say they could reduce the price, closed his mouth a bit awkwardly, not refuting his son's words.

His wife often chided him for always selling grain at such low prices, and their household didn't make much money each month.

Nanzhi didn't fret over getting a lower unit price. Beans were also grain, and getting some soybeans was a good deal.

Shen Yuntian acted quickly and in less than a quarter of an hour, had already visited the other two grain shops before shaking his head at Aunt Liu once he was back.

No one knows a child better than its mother. Liu knew her son was deft and would only trust him with the task if she knew that the other grain shops had some minor flaws. Only then would she felt relieved.

Even if it's a bit pricier, grains had to be of dependable quality to eat.

After much discussion, Nanzhi settled on buying fifty pounds of stale rice, twenty pounds of white flour, two hundred pounds of black flour, two pounds of salt, and four pounds of oil. Lastly, she glanced at a pile of potatoes on the side and after some thought, decided to get forty pounds.

After adding it all up, Nanzhi was left with one hundred and ninety-three wen coins.

Looking at her purchases piled up, she felt a sense of relief wash over her. Now she and Gougou wouldn't starve for a while, would they?

Aunt Liu counted the money. She had bought four hundred pounds of black flour alone. Along with other grains, bags of products had piled up all over the floor, costing her over five taels of silver.

Looking at all the goods on the ground, Manager Wan was the first to speak: "I'll have someone follow you with a mule cart later to send the grains over."

Noticing Nanzhi and her lot hesitating, he explained, "No charge. Consider it a thank you gift for helping me earlier."

Upon hearing it was free, Nanzhi nodded in agreement. The young teenager readily packed two bags of soybeans - the larger one weighed about thirty pounds, and the smaller one weighed in at ten pounds.

Nanzhi initially planned to return home after buying the grains, but Aunt Liu suggested leaving the grains at the shop for now. She grabbed Nanzhi's hand and headed towards the butcher shop.

"Aunt Liu, are you going to buy meat?"

"Meat is expensive!" Gougou crinkled his face when he heard what his mother had to say. His lips pursed.

He worried that if they didn't buy meat, his mother would fill up on cheap potatoes. Then she could give him more food, preventing her from going hungry and falling ill.

"You're such a clever little one." Aunt Liu pinched Gougou's face, smiling and teasing. Turning to Nanzhi, she said, "I'm taking you to buy some pork slab. You can cook lard with it at home. It lasts for a long time. If you add some when cooking, it will be good for Gougou."

Nanzhi blinked, before understanding that Aunt Liu referred to lard when she said "lard." Raised by her grandmother since she was young, Nanzhi knew the benefits of lard. She gratefully nodded in response.

It was in the afternoon. The pork stall was almost sold out, and there were only slabs and bones left. The only piece of meat was lean and entirely fat-free.

People generally preferred fatty meat because they considered it more succulent. As a result, lean meat was is even cheaper than fatty meat by a few wens.

"Are you here to buy meat, Auntie?" The butcher shop's manager greeted Aunt Liu and her party as soon as he saw them in front of his stall.

"What's the price of the slabs?" Aunt Liu cut to the chase without any preamble.

Technically, pork slabs that can render lard should sell well. But since the emergence of cheaper and less greasy soybean oil five years ago, pork slabs gradually lost their appeal, with their value plummeting repeatedly over the years.

"Twenty wens per pound," he replied.

Aunt Liu didn't comment on whether it was expensive or cheap. She only looked around, and the butcher didn't rush her.

Only after a while did Aunt Liu nod in satisfaction, pointing at the slab of pork on the table, "I'll take all these slabs."

The manager wasted no time, grabbing the pork slab to check its weight before asking Aunt Liu how many pieces to cut it into.

Aunt Liu also turned to Nanzhi, "How much do you want, Lin girl?"

With only one hundred and ninety-three wen coins left in her hand, Nanzhi didn't have much confidence: "Four pounds will be enough."

The manager nodded sagely, and precision-cut the meat into a four-pound piece.

After payment was made, the party headed back to the grain shop. Of course, the Shen family's three men carried everything.