Yang Ge had originally thought the terrible consequences of the continually rising grain prices wouldn’t become evident until after the year was over.
But he had clearly underestimated the control those rogues had over timing.
He had also overestimated the ability of Wei’s lower-class citizens to withstand risks.
It was almost the second day after the price of barley had broken through one hundred wen per dou.
A large number of beggars had appeared within Luting County.
They wandered the long streets dusted in white snow, begging from door to door for leftovers from the households to satisfy their hunger.
But with the grain prices soaring like this, which family wasn’t tightening their belts to get by? Who had extra food to spare for them?
Moreover, no one knew when these hard times would come to an end…
Since that day, the Yuelai Inn hadn’t served a single guest.
People still often came to the door, but they came either to borrow grain or to beg.
Shopkeeper Liu, being a benevolent man, knew that there wouldn’t be any guests coming anymore, yet he insisted on opening the door early every day, boiling a large pot of sorghum porridge, and serving a bowl to anyone who came begging.
When people came to borrow grain, he couldn’t bear to refuse. He always sighed deeply and said, "It’s hard for everyone," and then would ask Yang Ge to fetch two catties of grain from the back kitchen, handing it over to the visitor with a heart full of guilt.
The grain they’d bought at a high price a few days earlier hadn’t earned them a single copper coin, and had already been given away completely.
Yet, the neighbors who came to borrow grain kept coming in an endless stream, as if subconsciously everyone believed that the inn, being in the food business, must surely have stored plenty of grain.
But only Yang Ge knew that the batch of grain the inn had brought in a few days earlier had already run out.
He had secretly brought over two bags of grain from his own home, and even those were nearly gone.
Just now, as Yang Ge was seeing off a group of beggars, Wang Dezhu, who usually delivered firewood to the inn, showed up at the door.
The robust man who could carry seventy to eighty catties of firewood over twenty-odd miles of mountain paths was driven to tears. "Shopkeeper, I really can’t find a way anymore. I’ve run all over the place within five or eight miles, and I simply can’t afford to buy any grain. You know my family’s situation..."
Shopkeeper Liu clutched his hands tightly, his eyes reddening as he replied, "We know, we know. You are a proud man; you wouldn’t be asking this if there were any other way... Young man, go to the back yard and get ten catties of grain for Wang Dezhu!"
Yang Ge pressed his lips tightly together, torn between turning around and not turning around.
After hesitating for several moments, he mustered a forced smile and said, "Wang Dezhu, the pile of firewood in the backyard has collapsed, and I can’t get into the stove room at the moment. Maybe you could go home first, and I’ll bring it to you later?"
The few short sentences were extremely difficult for him to say, as though each word struggled to leave his mouth.
Wang Dezhu often delivered firewood to the inn, so they were quite familiar with one another.
When he came by, he often brought Yang Ge some small items from the mountains, teasing him like he would a child.
Sometimes it was a small packet of wild fruits, sometimes a few bird eggs, and he’d even made him a grasshopper or a wooden top...
But in the backyard, they could no longer scrape together ten catties of grain.
Wang Dezhu gave Yang Ge a look and his already dark cheeks flushed with a red that looked almost bloody. He forced a smile and stiffly shook Shopkeeper Liu’s hand, "It’s my bad timing. Sorry for the trouble, I’ll leave now and think of another way."
Saying this, he let go of Shopkeeper Liu’s hand and turned to leave.
Shopkeeper Liu grabbed him abruptly and then, rarely losing his temper, turned to Yang Ge and snapped, "What’s the matter with you, Yang Ge? When I tell you to go, you go. What’s with all the backtalk!"
Wang Dezhu quickly gestured with his hands, "Don’t get angry, don’t get angry. The young man is just thinking of you and the inn, it’s nothing, everyone’s having a hard time…"
Shopkeeper Liu held on to him tightly, not letting him leave, glaring at Yang Ge, "What are you standing there for! Go!"
Caught in a troubling dilemma for a few seconds, Yang Ge finally spoke helplessly, "Shopkeeper, there’s been no grain left in the backyard for a long time. The hundred catties of grain I brought from home have all been loaned out."
He didn’t want to bring it up.
But if he didn’t, Shopkeeper Liu wouldn’t let it go!
There was no more grain left at the inn, but Shopkeeper Liu had believed his word and had stored a batch at home. With the way the old man was dispersing everything, could they even get through their days?
Shopkeeper Liu and Wang Dezhu both froze in place.
After several moments, Shopkeeper Liu sighed deeply and said, "Look at you, thin arms and thin legs, why get involved in this mess!"
Yang Ge smiled, "Your family is in Lu Ting, and so is mine."
Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Liu looked at him with a mix of relief and helplessness, then turned around and, pulling the bewildered Wang Dezhu, walked out, "Let’s go, let’s head to my house, we still have some, we have to get through this year no matter what..."
Yang Ge watched the two of them tug and pull each other away and couldn’t help but wonder, did growing one’s business mean losing one’s conscience?
In these recent days, many store owners on this street, just like Shopkeeper Liu, had been helping beggars as much as they could.
Looking at the three major grain distributors who were driving up the prices of grain, damn it, they were truly heartless!
"They say poverty breeds deceit, and wealth fosters benevolence."
He slapped his thigh in frustration, "I think it’s more like the righteous are often slaughtered like dogs, and the ones who betray are mostly scholars! The more knowledge, the more reactionary they become when their hearts rot!"
Just then, a mother and daughter appeared at the door of the inn, whispering timidly, "Shopkeeper, could you spare a bowl of cold rice? My daughter hasn’t eaten for two days..."
Yang Ge looked at the mother, whose complexion was ashen and breath was weak, and then at the little girl whose face was blackened from the cold and who was barely able to stand.
Even though he had seen many beggars like this in the past few days, he still felt so choked up that he could hardly breathe.
He tried to smile more kindly, "Sister, come inside and rest, I’ll go to the kitchen and see what’s left to eat, and find something for you and your daughter."
The mother, clutching at straws, burst into tears, kneeling in the snow with her daughter in her arms, "We both thank the shopkeeper for your great kindness!"
Yang Ge hurried outside and pulled the two up from the snow, "I don’t deserve such praise; you’re shortening my life!"
The mother shook her head with tears streaming down her face, "We had no other choice. Her father died from exhaustion mid-year, and as a widow, I’ve only been able to scrape together just enough food. With the grain prices going up, her grandma has stopped eating; our house is falling apart..."
These few sentences completely overwhelmed Yang Ge.
His nose burned as tears welled up, and he quickly turned his head away from the mother and daughter, pulling them into the inn while unconsciously uttering words he didn’t even believe himself, "Don’t lose hope, it will get better, as long as we are alive, there is hope, there is a future!"
After seating the two at the table, he wiped his hands and hurried back into the kitchen.
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When he returned with two bowls of steaming millet porridge, Shopkeeper Liu had already come back, his eyes red as he consoled the little girl.
Seeing him with the millet porridge, the mother and daughter quickly stood up to receive it with both hands.
Yang Ge, "Eat slowly, there’s still more in the pot."
"Thank you, shopkeeper, thank you, old shopkeeper, you’ve saved our lives..."
Yang Ge and Shopkeeper Liu continued to soothe the mother and daughter, assuring them to sit at ease and eat.
Turning around, Yang Ge quietly asked Shopkeeper Liu, "How much grain did you lend to Wang Dezhu this time?"
Shopkeeper Liu, "Three bushels. His family has six people, and that amount might just be enough to get them through to the end of the year."
Yang Ge knew that since the old man took Wang Dezhu with him, he would definitely not just hand out ten pounds of grain.
He tried to hold back, but still ended up saying, "You should take it easy, we don’t know what’s coming!"
The old man sighed and waved his hand, "What can we do? We do what we can, we surely can’t just watch them starve to death, right?"
Yang Ge glanced back at the mother and daughter, who were sipping the hot millet porridge slowly, but their eyes still lacked vitality.
Could they really survive, have hope, have a future?
It’s said: Fate often snaps at the weakest links, and misfortune targets the suffering.
They were the weakest links and the suffering ones.
So they were the first to break...
But if grain prices continued to rise, even a somewhat stronger rope like the Liu family might not hold.
Once the broken-window effect takes hold, putting on the brakes becomes even harder!
’Can we just do as much as we can?’
Yang Ge murmured to himself softly.