Transmigrating into a Turbulent Era as a Soldier, Starting with Marrying a Wife

After walking around, Li Yuan found a small-sized grain store and went inside.

The owner of this store was an extremely capable woman.

She looked to be about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old.

This wasn't strange, as in the Great Liang Dynasty, there were more women than men.

Many positions that should have been held by men were now filled by women.

The female owner, seeing that the person who came in was a handsome young man, her eyes lit up.

She already had a good impression of him.

After inquiring about the price of grain, Li Yuan bargained with the female owner.

Finally, at a price of 490 coins per 'shi' (unit of dry volume, approx. 120 lbs) , he bought twelve 'shi' of millet.

After paying a 'guan' (string of 1000 coins) as a deposit, Li Yuan asked the grain store to prepare the grain in advance, as he still wanted to wander around the city.

He set the time to pick up the grain at 'shen shi' in the afternoon, which was 3 PM.

This time entering the city was naturally not just for buying grain.

Li Yuan also wanted to see if there were other ways to make money in the city.

After all, relying solely on the twenty-odd acres of land distributed by the military fortress, after deducting the grain turned over to the fortress, it wouldn't be enough for him to support three women.

Since they followed me, Li Yuan, I can't let them starve with me.

Moreover, to improve his system rewards, he needed to marry more wives.

Besides this, as a military household, he also had to provide his own weapons and armor to prepare for expeditions.

All of this required a large sum of money.

Therefore, Li Yuan had to find a business as soon as possible and work hard to make money.

After wandering around the small Qingyuan County town, Li Yuan had some general ideas in his mind.

He naturally didn't dare to touch the most profitable salt and iron in the city.

These were government monopolies, and touching them would result in beheading.

What remained were various daily necessities.

And what Li Yuan was most concerned about was wine.

Because in his previous life, Li Yuan had worked in a small winery in his hometown during his holidays.

Li Yuan was not unfamiliar with winemaking.

After observing, Li Yuan found that there were seven or eight restaurants in the county town.

There were also dozens of food shops and taverns on the streets that also sold wine.

It could be said that the demand was very large.

But now, although the price of wine in the city was high, the supply was insufficient.

The reason was simple, which was that it was currently a famine year, and the price of grain remained high.

And winemaking required a large amount of grain.

There was a state-run winery and three privately-run wineries in the city.

The scale was not large, and more wine was still transported from other places by merchants for sale.

Therefore, as long as one could brew wine, selling it would not be a problem.

But to do the wine business, one had to find enough low-priced grain.

Li Yuan had no clue yet and could only consider it further.

After wandering around the city again, he looked up and saw that it was already noon.

So he pointed to a food shop by the roadside and said to Xiaoxia.

"Let's go, let's go eat."

"Yes, thank you, Master."

Li Yuan shook his head and said.

"You don't need to call me Master in the future."

"Just call me Husband along with the Chu sisters."

Xiaoxia's face flushed red.

Li Yuan said this, which was equivalent to telling her.

Li Yuan was preparing to take her as a concubine.

Xiaoxia felt a burst of surprise in her heart, and also a little shyness.

She nodded quickly in agreement.

Her steps became lighter.

From time to time, she would steal a few glances at the handsome Li Yuan.

Then a blush appeared on her face.

Walking into the food shop, Li Yuan knew that Xiaoxia had been hungry for a long time and had a large appetite.

So he directly ordered two plates of steamed buns, two plates of soy-braised meat, plus a pot of cloudy wine.

Looking at the fragrant soy-braised meat in the plate, Xiaoxia's eyes were filled with surprise.

Li Yuan then said to her from the side.

"You still need to carry goods back to the village this afternoon, so eat your fill."

"Yes... Master. Ah no, Husband."

Xiaoxia couldn't resist the fragrant soy-braised meat and steamed buns any longer.

She sandwiched a large piece of soy-braised meat in the bun and ate it in large bites.

As she ate, she couldn't help but shed tears.

She hadn't eaten such delicious food for a long time.

Husband is really too good to me.

Seeing Xiaoxia eating so sweetly, Li Yuan shook his head and smiled.

He simply ordered a few more side dishes to go with the wine and chatted with the owner of the food shop.

He also asked some questions related to wine.

Seeing that this guest was generous, the shopkeeper was also willing to tell him everything he knew.

He introduced Li Yuan to all kinds of popular wines in the city.

This allowed Li Yuan to have a better understanding of the various wines of the Great Liang Dynasty.

After lunch.

Li Yuan took Xiaoxia to the East Market in the county town and bought a lot of daily necessities.

Such as iron pots, wooden buckets, smoked meat, and wine.

Especially wine, Li Yuan bought some of each type of wine sold in the city.

In addition, there were also a few quilts.

Li Yuan had been sleeping on straw mats all these days since he came to Great Liang.

Every morning when he woke up, his body was covered with straw, and he felt itchy all over.

Li Yuan missed the feeling of sleeping on quilts in his previous life.

So when he saw quilts for sale in the city, he quickly bought a few.

Xiaoxia was responsible for carrying the quilts and various sundries.

Xiaoxia, who was full and satisfied, was no weaker than a man in strength.

Li Yuan exchanged the remaining copper coins for silver at the money shop and carried them with him.

This would save him the trouble of carrying copper coins.

Arriving at the grain store, the store had already prepared the twelve 'shi' of millet.

Twelve 'shi' of grain weighed more than a thousand pounds, and Li Yuan and Xiaoxia couldn't transport it back to Dongxiang Village by themselves.

So Li Yuan asked the store to help him hire three wheelbarrows that specialized in delivery business.

After some bargaining, they finally agreed on a price of 40 coins per wheelbarrow to transport the grain from the county town to Dongxiang Village.

This price was not expensive, so Li Yuan agreed.

He paid the grain store the remaining balance for the grain.

Li Yuan then set off with Xiaoxia and three wheelbarrows.

Each of these wheelbarrows could carry five hundred pounds of grain.

And the drivers pushing the carts were all strong and sturdy.

The speed was not slow either.

Without saying a word along the way, Li Yuan returned to Dongxiang Village at 'you shi' in the afternoon.

When he just arrived at the entrance of the village, many idlers and villagers were watching.

They looked at the various supplies on Xiaoxia's shoulder pole.

And the bulging bags of grain on the three wheelbarrows.

They all showed envious and jealous expressions.

From time to time, some people were whispering.

"This Li Lang is really lucky."

"Yes, he bought so much grain after getting the money."

"Can he really finish eating it all?"

"Alas, my family has been out of grain for several days."

"He actually has so much grain, God is really unfair."

"Do you think he will lend me grain if I go to borrow some?"

"Dream on, grain is life now, would you lend life?"

The villagers at the entrance of the village were talking about everything.

Li Yuan smiled and cupped his fist to the villagers and said loudly.

"Fellow villagers."

"A few days ago, I, Li Yuan, was fortunate enough to dig up some silver."

"This is a reward from God."

"But I dare not enjoy it alone."

"Today, I bought some grain and rice."

"As long as they are fellow villagers of Dongxiang Village."

"I, Li Yuan, will give them one 'dou' (approx. 2 gallons) ."

"Everyone, please go home and wait for the grain."

"I will deliver it to your door later."

Everyone was stunned.

"What did Li Yuan just say?"

"Said he was going to distribute grain to everyone, is it true or false?"

"There is such a good thing."

Some who reacted quickly thanked Li Yuan with cupped fists.

"Thank you, Brother Li Yuan."

"We will go home and wait now."

The people were naturally very happy to hear that there was grain to receive.

They all went home to wait for Li Yuan to distribute the grain.