“Mm.”
Feng Jiu’er felt a little helpless, but nodded in agreement anyway.
“I’ll wait for your good news. But about my coming here to inspect things—it’s best that no one besides you and this shop’s manager finds out.”
“The Empress had me inspect in secret. If word gets out, the inspections that follow won’t necessarily show the true state of each shop.”
“If the city hadn’t suddenly been sealed off, I wouldn’t have troubled you.”
“Understood.”
Mister Yuan nodded in response.
“Good, then we’ll go up first. We’ll wait for your good news.”
Feng Jiu’er stood, patting Qiao Mu’s shoulder.
Qiao Mu stood up as well.
Mister Yuan rose and clasped his hands together. “Take care, ladies.”
Feng Jiu’er and Qiao Mu left, returning to the place arranged for them.
Over the course of two days, the unrest in the town grew steadily worse.
It wasn’t only the common folk who could no longer put food on the table—there were also quite a few merchants whose livelihoods had been affected.
In many corners of the town, people argued loudly, and every topic somehow circled back to the closed city gates.
The next afternoon, just as evening approached, Feng Jiu’er and Qiao Mu were making their way back to the inn from outside.
When the two of them reached the entrance, they found far more people gathered on the road in front than usual.
Feng Jiu’er and Qiao Mu both frowned and stepped forward.
“Shopkeeper, have some pity on us!”
“My family really can’t cook anymore. Could you spare some rice or grain?
Leftover vegetables and meat would do too.”
“Shopkeeper, could our family borrow some grain from you?
Once the gates open and I sell my umbrellas, I’ll repay you at once.”
“Do you have any leftover soup?
Could you spare a little?”
“Shopkeeper, please have mercy! Could you give us a bit more grain?”
A crowd of commoners in rather shabby clothing stood off to one side of the gate.
They were mindful enough to know this was mealtime, and so they didn’t block the middle of the entrance and interfere with other customers’ business.
The shopkeeper and two men dressed as inn attendants stood to one side of the gate, their expressions anxious.
“Please go back for now. We have no plan in place, and we can’t simply agree to everyone’s requests.”
The shopkeeper waved his hand.
“Go back first—let me discuss the situation with the owner, is that all right?”
Indeed, if it had only been two or three people, it would have been easy to handle. But with so many showing up at once, there was nothing anyone could do.
“Shopkeeper, please give us some buns, or even just some porridge.”
The people standing at the very front were nearly on their knees.
“Give each of us a little rice. My family has none left. The moment the gates closed, rice prices in town shot up—we can’t afford it anymore.”
Another villager wore a look of bitter suffering.
“That’s right.” Yet another spoke up. “Even with some silver in hand now, there’s hardly anything we can buy.”
“Those with land can at least eat some vegetables. But people like us, who scrape by digging up whatever we can find and selling small handmade goods, suddenly have no way to make a living at all…”
“How pitiful!” A middle-aged woman was crying. “If this goes on, everyone in my family will starve to death.”
Feng Jiu’er stepped forward, looking at the man who had spoken earlier about the price of rice.
“You said the price of rice went up once the gates closed?”
“Isn’t that so?” The man wiped his tears with the back of his rough hand.
“It jumped three or four times in an instant. Who can afford that?”
“Wealthy families with some stored grain are fine, but for people like us who live day to day, we simply can’t hold on.”
“If we weren’t truly desperate, I wouldn’t trouble the shopkeeper like this. The people at Fenglan Inn are good people!”
“Big brother, we can’t accept such a lofty compliment.”
The shopkeeper waved his hand.
“You all know the situation nearby too. If everyone came to us for help, we wouldn’t be able to manage it either.”
“Please, have mercy and go back, won’t you?”
The moment the shopkeeper finished speaking, the villagers at the front knelt down, and soon after, dozens more followed suit, kneeling as well.
“All of you—” The shopkeeper’s brow furrowed deeply, and for a moment he found himself unable to speak.
“Is this how you treat your benefactor?”
Qiao Mu could no longer bear to watch.
“You’re in trouble—why should that mean others are obligated to help you?”
“When people help you in ordinary times, that’s a favor, not a duty. Not helping you is also perfectly within their rights. Who is born owing help to anyone?”
“Have you ever thought about what you’ve actually done to help Fenglan Inn? Now, the moment trouble strikes, you kneel here—is this some kind of coercion?”
The villagers who had been sobbing just moments ago suddenly fell silent.
Everyone glanced at Qiao Mu, then quickly lowered their heads.
Qiao Mu simply couldn’t stand people who did nothing yet expected favors handed to them. No matter the reason someone struggled to get by, she couldn’t stand this kind of behavior.
“It’s only been two days, and your households already can’t cook—isn’t that your own problem?”
“If you’d all been a little more diligent in ordinary times, keeping half a month’s worth of grain stored at home wouldn’t be difficult at all.”
“And now, with the imperial proclamation posted in the capital and trouble breaking out, you all specifically pick on the easy target, don’t you? Good people are easy to bully, is that it?”
“Have you never once considered who opens their storehouses and distributes grain every month?”
“If being good doesn’t earn good in return, then I think starting next month, Fenglan Inn should simply cancel its grain-distribution policy altogether!”
Qiao Mu swept her gaze coldly over the crowd, gave a cold snort, turned, and walked away.
She walked straight into the inn without looking back.
Each of the scolded villagers hung their heads lower than the last.
Finally, someone—no one was sure who—stood up.
He bowed toward the people from Fenglan Inn and said, “I’m sorry! Shopkeeper.”
“Actually, what that heroic lady just said was right. We shouldn’t come running to you every time we have a problem.”
“You are good people. It’s we who were in the wrong. It’s we who were wrong!”
“It’s we who were wrong!” Many of the villagers raised their heads and called out in unison.
Feng Jiu’er exchanged a few words with the shopkeeper, then she too left.
The shopkeeper looked at the villagers and waved his hand. “Everyone, please rise.”
“As for the price hike on grain, I’ll have the owner speak with the town chief about the situation, though I can’t promise it will help.”
“As for food, for the time being, we truly have none to spare.”
“But if your household genuinely cannot manage to cook, every day at the fifth quarter of the hour of Xu, we will hand out whatever leftover food we have from the day at the back door.”
“I hope that people will only come to collect food when they truly cannot manage otherwise—please try to hold out on your own first, if you can.”
“No one can predict natural disasters or hardships. If everyone stands united, there’s no problem that can’t be solved.”
“All right, go on home now.”
“Thank you, Shopkeeper!”
Everyone clasped their hands together and turned to leave.
Soon, calm returned outside the inn.
With the city gates closed, business had indeed grown quieter.
Still, the inn already had its regular guests staying, and since none of them could leave anyway, they had no reason to go.
Along with a handful of regulars, the inn was able to keep itself going.
“Did you ask about the grain price increase?”
Feng Jiu’er, who had been sitting for quite a while, looked up at the approaching shopkeeper and asked.
“Yes.” The shopkeeper answered. “Every single one of them raised their prices.”
“But the owner says he suspects the town chief is involved in this as well. Trying to intervene would be difficult.”
“How many grain shops in Xixi City work with our Fenglan Inn?” Feng Jiu’er asked.
“One.” The shopkeeper held up a single finger. “Linshan Grain Shop. It’s the largest grain shop in all of Xixi City.”