In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 710 Tenderness

Goods transported from Taiping County to Yongliang County will be temporarily stored in shops in Yongliang County, and then sold to various parts of Liangzhou from Yongliang County.

This was Zhang He's idea. What he wanted was not just the market in Yongliang County, but the entire Liangzhou!

"This is a good thing!"

Yang Zheng's eyes lit up when he heard that Zhang He wanted to buy a shop.

Before he made contact with Chenjia Village, Zhang He was the only merchant who could transport Chenjia Village's goods to Yongliang County. If Zhang He could set up a shop in Yongliang County, it would mean that Chenjia Village's goods would continuously appear in Yongliang County in the future, which would be beneficial to Yongliang County and even the entire Liangzhou.

Because the chickens, ducks, and down jackets produced in Chenjia Village are now scarce items in the entire Liangzhou region.

“Brother Zhang wants to open a shop in Yongliang County, which I naturally welcome.”

Tang Qing also realized this and said with a smile, "It just so happens that the government still has quite a few confiscated shops. Brother Zhang, you can come with me to take a look tomorrow. If you see anything you like, feel free to take it."

As is well known, the Yang family army confiscated the homes of many landlords and powerful families. These landlords and powerful families not only had farmland, but also a large amount of fixed assets, such as shops.

After the landlords and powerful families were raided, these things naturally fell into the hands of Yang's army. Then Yang Zheng handed over the land deeds of these shops to local governments for disposal.

Therefore, Tang Qing now has quite a few shops that he has acquired, and he can completely decide to hand over one or even several of them to Zhang He to manage.

"Then this lad thanks Lord Tang in great gratitude!"

Zhang He thanked him.

So, the matter was settled.

…………

…………

Time flies, and three days have passed in the blink of an eye.

Yang Ming, who has good sleep habits, opened his eyes early, habitually threw off the covers, and then involuntarily shivered.

"This weather is fucking cold!"

Yang Ming wrapped his clothes tightly around himself. Even when he went to sleep at night, he was still dressed very warmly, because in the cold weather of Liangzhou, bedding alone was not enough to keep him warm.

"Ok?"

Yang Ming's waking up woke his wife, Deng Jie, who opened her eyes groggily and said, "Honey, why are you up so early?"

"This isn't what we're going to do..."

Yang Ming stopped mid-sentence, realizing that it was winter and impossible to do farm work.

Yes, Yang Ming is a farmer with a few acres of poor land. Although he is not rich, the output of his few acres of land is enough to support the two of them because he and his wife have not had children yet and there are no elderly people in the family.

Having been taught to do farm work since childhood, Yang Ming is used to working at sunrise and resting at sunset. He wakes up early every day and goes to his family's farmland with his wife to cultivate the land. He returns home to eat and go to sleep when the sun sets.

This is Yang Ming's dull and mundane life. He is neither rich nor starving, struggling to make ends meet every day.

Although Yang Ming and his wife occasionally felt dissatisfied with their living conditions, they had eventually gotten used to it. They even thought that if they could continue living like this, it wouldn't be bad, at least they were much luckier than those who starved to death in the county.

However, it seemed that God couldn't bear to see them doing well, so He didn't even give them the chance to earn a living on their own.

With the arrival of the cold disaster, the yield of crops in the fields decreased significantly, and the couple's life suddenly became difficult. They used to be able to barely have enough to eat, but now they have to be frugal and wish they could divide a meal of wheat into two meals.

If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad. The key issue is the impact of the cold disaster, which has made winters in Liangzhou extremely cold. Clothes that used to provide some warmth are now no longer warm enough, making life very difficult for Yang Ming and his wife.

It should be noted that cloth was not cheap in the Xia Kingdom, as evidenced by the fact that most people wore patched clothes. The vast majority of people were unwilling or unable to afford cloth to make new clothes.

Moreover, as the weather gets colder, the price of cloth in Yongliang County has skyrocketed. The price of a bolt of hemp cloth has soared from 100 wen to 200 wen.

Ordinary farmers like Yang Ming simply cannot afford such high prices and can only rely on their old clothes to keep warm.

This is the predicament Yang Ming is facing now: unable to farm, with no source of income, he can only go hungry, and he doesn't have enough money to buy cloth to sew warm clothes...

"Sigh, I don't know when this will end."

Yang Ming sat on the edge of the bed with a sigh, somewhat bewildered. All he wanted was to live a life of plenty, so why was it so difficult?

In the past, there were corrupt officials and landlords who exploited him. Now that the corrupt officials and landlords have finally been driven away by King Yang, he has to face the cold disaster again...

Speaking of which, Yang Ming and Yang Zheng, the Heavenly King, are actually related by blood. His great-grandfather was from the same village as Yang Zheng, but later moved to the county town to settle down.

Strictly speaking, Yang Ming could be considered a distant relative of Yang Zheng, but so many generations have passed and the blood ties have long since faded. A big shot like Yang Zheng wouldn't acknowledge him as a distant relative, and Yang Ming had no intention of trying to curry favor with Yang Zheng.

Yang Ming felt his life was complete if he could support himself and his wife by farming, and if possible, have one or two more children.

Unfortunately……

Unfortunately, fate did not grant him the opportunity to realize his simple wish.

"The boss."

Just as Yang Ming was frowning in distress, his wife grabbed his hand and said gently, "Don't be discouraged. Life goes on, doesn't it?"

Feeling the warmth from his hands, the confusion in Yang Ming's eyes gradually faded, replaced by determination.

"That's right! No matter how difficult it is, we have to keep going."

Looking at his wife's not-so-pretty face, Yang Ming said with a firm gaze, "My wife is not beautiful, nor can she be described as gentle, but she is the most important person in my heart. Whether for myself or for my wife, I will strive to live on."

"daughter in law."

Yang Ming held his wife's hand and said gently, "Let's go out later and see if we can find any cheap fabric. If we can, we'll buy a bolt to make new clothes."

While I'm at it, I'll see if there are any odd jobs I can do.

Yang Ming silently added in his heart that sitting around and living off his savings was definitely not in his nature. Now that he couldn't farm, he could only find odd jobs and do manual labor to earn some wages to supplement his family's income.

"It's all up to you."

After some tender moments, the couple got up and went to the kitchen together to cook a meal of wheat porridge.

After finishing their meal, the two decided to go out.