The manager explained with a smile, "Sir, Jiandu was plagued by the flood this year so not a single grain was reaped. I sold my previous stock to people from other towns who offered a high price before. Honestly, there is indeed not enough rice for you in my shop although it's the largest one in Suizhou."

"How much do you have?" Xiao Mu asked.

The manager reached out and made a gesture.

Seeing that, Rui Yi standing behind couldn't help frowning and interpreted the gesture, "30 piculs."

How would 30 piculs of rice be enough for tens of thousands of soldiers?

But the manager shook his head and said, "No."

"No? Then how much?" Rui Yi quickly asked.

The manager answered, "Three piculs."

"What? Three piculs? In such a big shop, there are only three piculs of grains? Why don't you directly close your shop to wind up your business?" Said Rui Yi who looked unconvinced after hearing the figure. Merely three piculs of grains meant nothing for them.

Then the manager put on a helpless look and continued, "Sir, no other shops have more stock than mine. I assume the stock in those small shops may even be less than one picul."

"Fine, parcel all the grains you have up and deliver them to the Tongfu Inn!" Xiao Mu stood up to fix his eyes on the manager and said to him.

They were short of grains at present. Three piculs were better than nothing. They could collect little by little.

Hearing that, the manager smiled and responded, "No problem, sir. Please pay the down payment first."

"Rui Yi," Xiao Mu called Rui Yi then.

The latter nodded and asked the manager, "How much?"

"4 taels of silver, one-third of the total price," the manager smiled at Rui Yi and answered.

Then Rui Yi repeated, "4 taels? You share no difference with robbers!"

One-third of the total price was 4 taels of silver so it meant that three piculs of rice cost 12 taels. It was several times higher than the usual price.

Now he figured out why few customers shopped here.

But the manager smiled at Rui Yi again and explained, "Sir, how come? It took us much time and money to hire workers to deliver rice here from far away..."

"Even so, you can't charge us that much. You really share no difference with robbers," Rui Yi interrupted before the manager finished.

Hearing what he said, the manager knitted his brows and continued, "Please don't defame me. You can just leave if you don't want to pay the price."

"You..." Rui Yi wanted to add something.

But Xiao Mu cut in, "Rui Yi, stop. Pay him."

Hearing the order, Rui Yi nodded and handed 4 taels he pulled out of his pocket to the manager.

Taking the money over, the manager said with a smile, "You can go back to the inn first and I'll ask people to send the rice there soon."

"Alright," Xiao Mu answered and then walked out of the shop.

Right after they stepped out, Rui Yi asked Xiao Mu, "Brother Xiao, why did you ask me to pay him without even bargaining with him?"

"Grains are in short supply now so it's inevitable for shops to mark up. As that manager said just now, we can leave if we don't want to pay the price," Xiao Mu looked at Rui Yi and answered him.

Hearing the explanation, Rui Yi nodded and continued, "Then what should we do? Go to other shops?"

"Even a large shop merely has three piculs of stock so you can tell that other small ones must have much less," Xiao Mu added with a sigh.

Then Rui Yi repeated the question, "So what should we do?"

"Figure out some other ways to solve our problem," Xiao Mu replied while looking at the distance.

Given the price and demand for soldiers, they could never buy enough rice from shops.

So they had to figure out some other ways.

Then, Xiao Mu said to the other two, "It's late now. Let's go back to the inn first and look around tomorrow morning."

"Yes," the two cupped their hands and responded.

Later, they headed to the inn.

At dusk when they finished dinner, three piculs of grains from the shop named "Food Is Top Necessity" were delivered.

Xiao Mu asked the inn waiters to help keep an eye on these grains.

Then they went to bed very early.

Meanwhile, Zheng Qiu and his fellows entered Suizhou before guards closed the gate.

When they walked in, Su Tong moved to Zheng Qiu and asked, "Brother Zheng, where should we stay tonight?"

Hearing that, Zheng Qiu gave a thought to it.

They only took a little money for their meals. It was unclear when they could sell all these potatoes out. So if they paid the inn expense but failed to sell potatoes, they would have no money for food then.

After full consideration, Zheng Qiu said to Su Tong, "We don't have much money so we can't afford an inn. Let's find a place that can shelter us from the wind to settle for tonight and go to the market to sell potatoes tomorrow morning."

"I'll listen to you," Su Tong nodded and answered.

Then, he walked to those representatives and explained, "Given the limited money we have, we can't afford an inn tonight. Let's find a place that no wind can squeeze in to settle for first. When we sell potatoes out, this won't happen anymore."

"No problem," those village representatives answered with one voice.

Then, they set off to the town center.

At this time, Zhao Po and Su Tong who walked faster to find a suitable shelter came across a deserted courtyard so they pushed the door open to have a check.

Although it was deserted, it could shelter them from the wind at least. So it would be better for them to stay here than outside.

Su Tong said to Zhao Po, "You make a fire and I'll lead them here."

"No problem," Zhao Po said with a nod.

Then, Su Tong rushed out of the courtyard.

When he left, Zhao Po gathered some dead leaves and branches nearby and used the paper igniter in his pocket to make a fire.

Soon, branches and leaves were burning.

Afterwards, Zhao Po also collected some fallen logs around because only these branches wouldn't be enough for them to pull through tonight. He should gather some more.

After all, the temperature after midnight would reach the lowest.

In the meantime, Su Tong ran to Zheng Qiu and said, "Brother Zheng, we found a good place, a deserted courtyard. We'll be free of worries about catching a cold if staying there."

"That's great," Zheng Qiu answered and nodded.

Then he turned around and said to people behind, "Everyone, park your carriage. They've found a temporary shelter for us."

"Great," village representatives nodded in delight when hearing that.

After traveling a long way, they could finally stop to have a rest now.

Zheng Qiu turned to Su Tong and said, "Brother Su, please lead the way in front."

"No problem. Follow me!" Su Tong responded and walked to the front.

Arriving at the deserted courtyard, Zheng Qiu directed people to park carriages in the middle of the yard. Potatoes were their sole hope and he had to ensure that nothing would go wrong.

The noise outside drew the attention of Zhao Po who was making a fire inside. He came out to offer them a hand.

After parking, these people entered the room one after another, sat around the fire, and took the food out of their packages to start their dinner.

When all finished, Zheng Qiu arranged the vigil schedule that two people were on guard every two hours.

They didn't go to bed until the vigil schedule was settled.

The next day, Zheng Qiu woke them up at dawn. "Everyone, wake up. Let's hurry to the market to sell potatoes. The market is most visited in the morning."

Hearing his words, others rubbed their eyes, got up with a drowsy look, and walked outside.

When everyone got up, they led horses to follow Zheng Qiu to the market.

The reason why Zheng Qiu was familiar with Suizhou was that it was his hometown. But later, his family moved to Jiandu. Although he left Suizhou at a young age, he still remembered most places here.

In the market, vendors had arrived early to set up their stalls.

These vendors were actually ordinary residents who traded their redundant vegetables for money or something they needed.

At this time, Zheng Qiu and his fellows arrived the market and parked their carriages in an open space.

Some unpacked a bag of potatoes on a carriage and piled them up in front of themselves.

As it was getting brighter, more people showed up in the market to buy or trade something they didn't need for others.

One vendor started to hawk and others followed.

"Celery cabbage! All of them are fresh, newly picked, and not expensive. 2 coins for 1.5 kilograms."

"Radish, radish, crispy and sweet radish. One coin for 1 kilogram."

...

Hearing that, Zheng Qiu couldn't help frowning. They had forgotten one important thing. Since no one had sold potatoes before, they didn't know what price they should set.

Looking at Zheng Qiu, Su Tong understood why he knitted his brows: they hadn't discussed how to price these potatoes yet.

Then, he said to Zheng Qiu, "Brother Zheng, I'll go to check whether there are potato vendors around and inquire about the price they set."

"Good idea," Zheng Qiu nodded.

So Su Tong handed his sword to Zhao Po who stood next to him, and he headed to stalls nearby.

He had passed several stalls. There were celery cabbages, radishes, greens and pumpkins for sale, but no potato.

Su Tong also frowned. What should they do? They didn't know the market price. If they set a high price, they couldn't attract customers. But they would suffer a loss if setting a low price.

Not knowing what to do, Su Tong heard an old woman hawking, "Potato. All tasty potatoes."

Su Tong cheered up and looked at where the voice came from!

Not far, an old woman sat behind a small heap of potatoes. Seeing that, Su Tong rushed to her.

He bent down and asked, "Granny, how much is this?"

Hearing him asking, the old woman answered quickly, "2 coins for 500 grams. My potatoes are tasty and just a few can fill you up."

"2 coins for 500 grams," Su Tong knitted his brows first and then repeated with a nod.

It wasn't a very low price for them.