The courtyard suddenly fell silent.
Everyone pricked up their ears to listen.
Mrs. Chen said flatly, "We don't have enough grain for ourselves. We have none to spare."
Shanzimama quickly corrected herself, "I misspoke. I don't want to borrow, I want to buy."
"I'll pay the current price, even ten times the normal cost. Please, sell me a little. Otherwise, Shanzi and I will have nothing to eat."
Shanzimama had first asked to borrow, planning to buy grain in Huainan County or East Sea County to repay the loan. 'The prices there couldn't possibly be ten times the normal rate, could they?'
But Mrs. Chen clearly wasn't willing to lend, so Shanzimama made a snap decision: she would buy.
Mrs. Chen hesitated for a moment and looked at Gu Zhang.
Their family still had quite a bit of the coarse grain they had bought earlier, most of which was uneaten.
Gu Zhang gave a slight nod.
