Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 326 The Far North

After all the corn was harvested at home, Song Chunlin specially sent a batch to the shop and asked someone to make a large wooden barrel with a blade inside. He threw the shelled corn into the barrel to crush it, then added water to make corn juice. He made a large barrel every day and was done when they were all sold out.

In addition to corn juice, there is also corn specifically used to make popcorn. Song Chunlin also made a batch of it. The store happened to have butter, so he put the corn kernels, butter and sugar into the pot together. As long as he controlled the heat well, the fragrant popcorn would come out of the pot.

So these days, many children on the streets are holding a paper bag of popcorn in their hands. You only need three cents to buy a bag of popcorn. Although the quantity is small, it is enough to coax the children. If there are many children, each of them can have a few grains to taste. It can be said to be good value for money.

Corn juice was also extremely popular. The nobles in Beijing all had corn skewers as pendants for appreciation, but this was the first time they had heard of drinking corn juice. In addition, there were purchase restrictions, so how could the rich not be tempted by restricted items?

So for a long time, the corn juice at Xingchengfang was sold out early every day, causing people who went there later to ask the store to make an extra bucket.

The manager didn't dare to agree, because there were not many tender corns in the warehouse, and they could only last for a few days at most. Making one more bucket would mean running out of stock early. Moreover, once he started this, when the next two buckets were not enough to sell, wouldn't the customers ask him to make a third or fourth bucket?

This wouldn't work. Not to mention that they didn't have enough ingredients, the corn juice was also difficult to make. It had to be threshed and cooked, then crushed with water, and finally passed through a sieve. It wasn't very tiring, but because there were so many steps, it was also time-consuming to make. Making one bucket a day wasn't too tiring, but if they had to make another bucket, the steward uncle said he was reluctant to let the children get too tired.

When Song Chunlin left the capital, he had never imagined that corn juice and popcorn would become so popular. The former was because of its small quantity and scarcity, and the latter was because it was too cheap. Not only ordinary people, but even children with a few cents in pocket money were willing to buy some and then take them back to show off to their friends.

At this time, Song Chunlin had already arrived in Fuzhou, thousands of miles away from the capital, at the speed of light.

Fuzhou of the Dajing Dynasty is located in the north, in the extreme north. To be exact, a little further away is the Arctic Circle. Because it is winter for most of the year and only four to five months are warm, there are relatively few people here.

When Song Chunlin arrived, the ice here had just thawed, and the temperature was more than ten degrees colder than in the capital. Halfway through his journey, he began to pull out thick clothes from the space. The further north he went, the more clothes he put on. By the time he reached his destination, Shihezitun, he had already put on autumn clothes and long trousers under his outer coat, as well as a warm down vest. His pants were covered by the outer coat because it was long enough, so you couldn't see what was underneath. He also changed into windproof work pants.

Rubbing his hands, Song Chunlin casually walked into the only inn in the town. The owner was dozing off behind the counter. The waiter was swinging the rag in his hand boredly. When he saw Song Chunlin coming in, he did not come forward to greet him, but lazily asked Song Chunlin whether he wanted to eat or stay overnight.

When Song Chunlin said he wanted to stay overnight, the waiter's eyes clearly lit up, and the shopkeeper behind the counter suddenly woke up and stood up with a smile.

Song Chunlin asked for a room upstairs. The waiter led Song Chunlin upstairs with a grin and asked him kindly if he needed any food.

Song Chunlin shook his head and refused, and told the waiter to prepare for a rest and not to disturb him. After that, he threw a string of copper coins to the waiter.

The waiter took the small string of copper coins given by Song Chunlin, weighed it, and found it was about ten cents. He immediately smiled.

Song Chunlin closed the door only after the guys left. He took out his sleeping bag from the space and prepared to sleep directly in the sleeping bag at night, which would be warmer.

As for food, there are so many fast foods in the space. I picked one up and opened it, and it was a fried rice. I dug a little deeper and found a box of sweet and sour pork. Not bad, this dish is quite suitable for the occasion.

After finishing his meal quickly, Song Chunlin asked the waiter to bring up a bucket of hot water. After a simple wash and changing into pajamas, he crawled into his sleeping bag. As soon as he closed his eyes, his mental power immediately released, quickly completely covering this small town.

It was only afternoon, around four or five o'clock, and it was not completely dark yet. Every household was making fires and cooking at this time. Song Chunlin planned to hurry up and check it out.

According to the clues given by the previous person, Songsong’s sister was most likely sold here, but the person didn’t have the exact name of the city or village, and only knew a rough range. Song Chunlin had no choice but to use the simplest method and look for her one by one.

Just like now, using mental power, observing all the households in the town from all angles without blind spots, and collecting usable information from their words.

After a night, Song Chunlin did not find any useful information, so he had to get up early in the morning and go to the local human traffickers to ask.

When Renyazi learned the purpose of Song Chunlin's visit, he looked embarrassed.

"Sir, you have given me a very difficult problem. Ours is a legitimate pawnbroker registered with the government. What you are talking about is not just a simple slave trade. Those black-hearted people will not sell their children to a small pawnbroker like ours. I think you should look for it in places that, ahem, ordinary people would not go to. Maybe there is still a chance."

Song Chunlin has heard the same words dozens of times recently. Almost every human trafficker he found said the same thing. However, Song Chunlin still did not give up and continued to ask the human traffickers whether any young girls around four or five years old had been sold to them in the past year or two.

Renyazi simply opened his account book and showed Song Chunlin the accounts of the past two years.

It clearly recorded how many people bought it, when they bought it, and how much they paid.

For Song Chunlin, who grew up in modern society, seeing the account book with clearly marked prices of people made him feel physically uncomfortable. He endured the discomfort and flipped through the account book. According to the records in the account book, human traffickers bought more people from local areas than from other places.

As if seeing Song Chunlin's doubts, the trafficker explained helplessly to Song Chunlin: "This place is too remote, and the harvest from the fields is not much. Not many people can support a large family with the harvest from the fields. I do business with the wealthy families in the south. Many children are sold to the mansions of wealthy families to be servants. The price will be much higher than selling to local wealthy families. If the child is lucky, he will be released by the master when he grows up, which is also a good thing."

Song Chunlin said he didn't understand, but he respected it. He was just confused: "Didn't the government arrange many people to come and help you grow potatoes and sweet potatoes? Isn't there any here?"

Ren Yazi's face froze for a moment, but soon returned to normal.

"As for potatoes and sweet potatoes, only those families in our town who have some money are willing to try to grow some. As for the yield of 1,000 kilograms per mu, we have only heard of it but have never seen it. We planted some on a small scale, but the climate here is cold, so the yield is only slightly higher, not as exaggerated as the rumors say."

Song Chunlin was dumbfounded. He felt that the human trafficker must be hiding something from him, but seeing the look on his face, he guessed that he wouldn't be able to get anything out of him today. So he walked out of the human trafficker's yard without looking back and turned towards the grain store in the town.

There are not many people in the town, and today is not a market day. When Song Chunlin came in, the manager just greeted him and ignored him.

Song Chunlin stood in the shop, looking at the few grains of food in the shop, and couldn't help but frowning.

There are rice, brown rice, flour, and various grains here, but there are no corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes that can be found everywhere in the grain shops in the capital. There is a small basket of vermicelli in the corner, which seems to have been brought here by merchants to sell.

Unable to find what he wanted in the shop, Song Chunlin simply walked up to the shopkeeper.

"Boss, do you have any potatoes, sweet potatoes, or corn here?"

The shopkeeper finally raised his head and looked at Song Chunlin. He looked him up and down and found that he was just a boy of about fourteen or fifteen years old, with fair skin and rosy cheeks. Although the material of his clothes was not silk or satin, it was a material he had never seen before. It was not like linen or ramie, but looked more delicate and soft. There were delicate and small embroidery on the hem of his clothes, and he looked like a child from a wealthy family.

I don't know if the kid was sent out by the head of the family for training, but he dared to say anything. The manager walked out quickly, looked around vigilantly at the door, and after confirming that there was no suspicious person, he pulled Song Chunlin to the corner.

Song Chunlin was very confused. He was still bewildered even when he was pulled into a corner. He was not afraid that the shopkeeper would do something bad to him, but seeing how nervous the other party looked, there was definitely something wrong.

Sure enough, the shopkeeper lowered his voice and told Song Chunlin not to ask about sweet potatoes and potatoes here.

Song Chunlin: "Why? I want to buy some to take back. People are growing them everywhere in the capital, so I want to see if there are any here. Didn't the Ministry of Agriculture spread the seeds of potatoes and sweet potatoes here? Why can't I see any in your shop?"

The steward sighed and said, "Sir, when you leave this door, don't tell anyone that I told you this. In our area, the government did give us seeds to plant at the beginning. Unfortunately, as soon as the people from the Ministry of Agriculture left, all the seeds in the fields planted with potatoes and sweet potatoes were dug out overnight. Not a single seed was left."

Song Chunlin was shocked: "What? They dug it out after it was planted. Are they here to steal the seeds?"

The manager looked so naive and said, "You thought too well. All those half-grown seedlings were trampled and crushed. These people never intended for them to grow these things."

Song Chunlin expressed that he didn't quite understand. Is there anyone who would complain about having too much food?

"It's not that they dislike having too much food. It's that they don't want us to have enough food. Young Master, you probably don't know that the weather here is cold. After a winter, the soil is so hard that we can't dig. There is only a small amount of land that can be cultivated every year. After deducting the taxes paid throughout the year, poor families basically have to buy food to fill their stomachs. Only a few people can eat enough with the output of their own land. Once the output of grain increases, think about it, who should those big households sell their grain to?"

Song Chunlin looked at the steward suspiciously: "Steward, don't you know what you do?"

The manager said indifferently, "What can I do? I am just helping to look after the shop. I do whatever my superiors tell me to do. Don't look at my small shop with few things. In fact, my master has the largest grain shop in the county. The daily turnover of that shop is equivalent to what I work here for a year. I just get a salary that is not enough to support myself."

Song Chunlin understood now that this was a small employee who was unwelcome in the workplace and was exiled to the margins. From his words, it seemed that he had many complaints against his master. Yes, anyone who was assigned to this remote place by his superiors would feel resentful.

Song Chunlin found out the whole story from the steward and did not stay any longer. If the information provided by the steward was correct, there should be spies left by his master in this town who were specifically monitoring whether anyone here was planting high-yield crops such as potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Song Chunlin has always looked down on such things that harm others for personal gain. It is extremely disgusting to destroy other people's lives for personal gain.

"Time is running out. If I catch who is so disgusting, I will beat you so hard that your mother won't recognize you."

On the way back, Song Chunlin became more and more angry. At night, he simply released his mental power to monitor the grain shop, trying to find clues from the people who usually came into contact with the shopkeeper.

Of course, the daytime inquiries never stopped. He went out at dawn every day. On the surface, he was strolling around the town, but in fact, he never relaxed his mental focus and was always observing those suspicious families, especially those with five or six-year-old girls at home. Unfortunately, after his observations and the information he collected over the past few days, he found that the human trafficker did not deceive him.

In such remote places, there are many more people selling their children than buying slaves. Even the rich families in the town like to buy local children to train them. Song Chunlin even visited some entertainment venues, but those places did not cater to girls of Liu Liu's age.

After returning empty-handed once again, Song Chunlin planned to rest for a night and then head straight to the county town. Didn’t the manager say that their master ran the largest grain store in the county town? Since it was the largest, it would certainly be easier to find than in the town. Besides, there were more people in the county town, so there might be clues about Liu Liu there.