I insist

Chapter 42: Crazy Grain Prices

Biancheng.

After two days of travel, they finally arrived here.

Looking at the stone tablet at the city gate, Song Miqiu realized that they didn't have much food left, so he decided to go into the city to buy some.

Moreover, camping on the road all the time isn't a long-term solution. While the adults are fine, there are two children to take care of.

With that in mind, she took the initiative to speak.

"Let's go here and buy some food. If we continue like this, we might starve to death before we even reach our destination."

Qiu Tianlei and the others, being the younger generation, naturally had no objections. So everyone's eyes turned to Yu Huailin, who appeared to be compliant.

"Of course I will listen to Madam."

Because his voice wasn't loud, it was difficult for people to tell whether he was referring to a lady or a woman!

Song Miqiu's face flushed red and then turned pale, unsure of how to react.

Yu Huailin loved seeing her in such a flustered state.

Qiu Tianlei felt that the atmosphere between his mother and this pretty boy was a bit strange, especially these past two days.

Song Miqiu was also worried that they would notice something, so she quickly changed the subject.

"In that case, let's hurry up and go! If we get any later, they might not let us in."

The current situation is unusual, and no one can guarantee when the city gates will suddenly be closed.

Upon hearing this, Qiu Tianlei forgot what had just happened and, along with his wife and children, followed his mother into the city.

As soon as they entered, they found that the atmosphere in the city seemed a bit off.

This place clearly wasn't raided by bandits, so why did they see so many people looking unnaturally thin?

"What exactly is going on in Biancheng? Could there be a famine here?"

But the two cities are not far apart, so why have they never heard of this news?

Song Miqiu didn't want to cause too much trouble, so after hearing what Tian Yumei said, he just gave a casual reply.

"Their affairs are none of our business. We're just here to buy food. After we've bought what we need, we'll stay one night and then leave. As for their affairs... we're barely able to take care of ourselves right now, and we don't have the energy to worry about others."

If they had the ability to help, that would naturally be no problem, but right now Song Miqiu just wanted to live peacefully.

After careful consideration, Tian Yumei realized that her mother-in-law's words made a lot of sense, so she stopped worrying about it.

The group found the rice shop in a grand procession, but before they even went inside, they were stunned by the prices displayed on the sign at the entrance.

"What's going on in Biancheng? Is this a den of bandits and robbers? Whose rice is so expensive?!"

"This! This is outrageous! Or am I seeing things because of all the travel? This price could buy more than ten times the amount of rice over a long period of time, right?"

Looking at the prices displayed at the door, Song Miqiu couldn't help but frown. "There seems to be something fishy about this. Let's go ask them first."

They haven't gone inside yet; maybe the sign hasn't been taken down in time, and the prices on it aren't the current prices for grain.

However, when they went inside and heard the same price, they finally couldn't resist.

Song Miqiu believed that as businessmen, these people should still have some morals, so their attitude was relatively good.

"Isn't something wrong with your grain prices? Why are they so ridiculously high? Compared to usual, this is simply illogical!"

Just as Mr. Tian said, the current price is enough to buy more than ten times the amount of rice.

Everyone is facing difficulties right now, yet they are still profiteering by inflating food prices at this time. Isn't this just profiting from the national crisis?

Is there really no one to stop people like this?

However, she had barely finished speaking when the shopkeeper, to her surprise, gave her a mocking look.

"Seeing your large family like this, I thought you were genuinely here to buy things. I didn't expect you to be a family of paupers! Since you don't have money for food, then get out of here! Don't delay our business!"

When Qiu Tianlei heard someone cursing him and his mother like that, he couldn't hold back anymore. He rolled up his sleeves and was about to go up and reason with the person, but his mother stopped him.

"Mother! Why are you stopping me? These people are heartless! I refuse to believe that after I have a proper talk with him, he will still say such things!"

Song Miqiu knew very well that Qiu Tianlei's so-called "exchange" was definitely not just lip service.

They weren't looking to cause trouble, and besides, their final destination wasn't Biancheng, so there was no need for them to create so much trouble here.

"Let's leave here first, and talk about it outside."

Qiu Tianlei was naturally very obedient to his mother, so even though he was unwilling, he could only glare at the shopkeeper and leave.

"Mom! Why did you stop me just now? Didn't you see that I scared him half to death? This kind of person is just doing it on purpose because he thinks you're easy to bully!"

Song Miqiu simply shook his head. "Making such a big fuss won't do us any good. Since their prices are too high, we'll just buy from another store."

Song Miqiu's idea was good, but Yu Huailin, who was standing next to him, just found it a bit funny.

Biancheng is neither too big nor too small, but it is still a city. If only one company were to raise grain prices, it would probably have been squeezed out long ago!

If he wasn't mistaken, the price should be the same throughout the entire city of Bian.

Sure enough, they went to several more stores, but all of them had the same price!

Qiu Tianlei was furious!

"They've all planned this together; it's all for making this dirty money!"

Perhaps Qiu Tianlei's voice was too loud, and because of those bandits, everyone really had to stock up on more food.

Therefore, there were many people in front of every grain shop.

However, after hearing this, everyone just glanced inside, but no one dared to say anything.

Song Miqiu was also somewhat angry, so she had no intention of paying attention to Qiu Tianlei.

"Mom! Should we still buy it?"

Tian Yumei asked a question timidly. Song Miqiu looked at the two innocent children behind him and could only sigh helplessly.

"Buy it! Adults can go without food, but children are growing and we absolutely cannot let them go without food!"

Despite their reluctance, they had no choice but to buy the exorbitantly priced grain.

However, when it was their turn, the shopkeeper simply looked them up and down and then curled the corners of his mouth in a smirk.

"What a coincidence! You've come at just the right time; our rice prices have changed."

Before Song Miqiu and the others could even feel happy, they saw that the price on the sign the shopkeeper had brought out had increased again!

This act of demanding exorbitant prices directly enraged Song Miqiu.

"Have you no regard for the law?! What's the difference between you and those robbers?!"