Chapter 503: Buying broomcorn millet

When approaching the county town about three or four li away, Wang An saw from afar an old man in rags carrying a cloth bag walking in front.

The cloth bag was not big, looking like a bag of grain, weighing about forty or fifty jin.

Wang An drove the horse cart to catch up and greeted from afar:

"Old man, want a ride for a bit?"

In the countryside, when you encounter a horse cart while walking, you can actively ask the other party to give you a ride. If the other party is not carrying a heavy load, the other party will absolutely not refuse to carry you.

And when encountering someone walking while driving a horse cart, the cart owner will generally also take the initiative to open their mouth and let the person walking sit on the horse cart for a while.

These are all extremely normal things and have nothing to do with whether you know each other or not, nor is there any so-called human favor.

So, after the old man heard Wang An's shout, he stopped, turned his head, looked at the approaching Wang An with a smile, and said: "Then sit for a while? Hahaha... Thanks, young man."

When he arrived in front of the old man, Wang An stopped the big stallion and said with a smile:

"Going to the county town too, Grandpa?"

After the old man put the cloth bag on the horse cart and also got on the cart, he responded to Wang An with a smile: "Indeed, thinking of selling this bit of broomcorn millet to exchange for some candy for my grandson, hahaha..."

In this era, in the northern region including the Northeast, sticky rice is yellow rice.

Making zongzi or bean buns, etc., basically uses yellow rice or flour ground from yellow rice, and before yellow rice is shelled, it is broomcorn millet.

Just like rice before shelling is called paddy, millet before shelling is called grain, they are all the same.

And in the south, sticky rice is river rice, also called glutinous rice, which is also the raw material used to make zongzi and bean buns.

This situation is like sugar beet in the north and sugarcane in the south, which is entirely the difference between the north and the south.

Upon hearing that there was broomcorn millet in the flour bag, and it was broomcorn millet for sale, Wang An's eyes lit up instantly.

In this era, in order to increase the yield of grain, to be precise, the weight, the vast majority of brigades planted corn.

It's just that corn, although the yield is not low, but taking it as a staple food, and the countryside in this era will not peel corn, so corn is really not very delicious.

However, fine grains like rice and flour have low yields in this era, so even city dwellers cannot eat them every meal.

It is also because of this that yellow rice has become people's favorite.

Whether it's bean buns or rice cakes, it has simply become an absolute delicacy.

Although Wang An is not short of money and can afford yellow rice, he doesn't eat it all the time, so every time he goes to the county town, he never thinks of buying this thing.

Wang An asked the old man with a smile:

"Old man, how much do you plan to sell this broomcorn millet for per jin?"

Hearing Wang An's question, the old man frowned and said:

"I went to the grain station yesterday to ask, and the yellow rice they sell is 1 mao 6 per jin, and the broomcorn millet is 1 mao 1. The dog-f***ing purchase price is only 9 fen 5. Young man, you say my broomcorn millet is all good, not a bit worse than what they sell. I'm thinking of selling it for 1 mao per jin, and then it's cheaper than what the grain station sells. Young man, do you think it will sell well?"

It could be seen that although the old man was very angry at the difference of 1 fen 5 li between the grain station's purchase price and selling price, he was still quite uneasy in his heart, as if he was worried that his broomcorn millet wouldn't sell.

Wang An thought for a while, and then said:

"Old man, why don't you sell this broomcorn millet to me? Did you weigh it before you came? How many jin is it in total?" The old man said suspiciously:

"You want it? This is a full dou, it must be more than 50 jin. Can you take that much?"

Wang An smiled: "I'm thinking of planting some broomcorn millet this year, just in time to save on buying seeds."

Hearing that Wang An wanted to use this broomcorn millet as seeds, the old man immediately said with a smile:

"Using it as seeds is fine, using it as seeds is too fine. I grow four or five hundred jin of this broomcorn millet every year."

The four or five hundred jin the old man said meant four or five hundred jin per mu of land, but local people's speech is sometimes relatively concise.

Wang An agreed, and while taking out money, said:

"Broomcorn millet is not heavy, one dou is only forty-something jin. If yours is full, it should be about 50 jin. Anyway, however much it is, I can't let you suffer a loss. I'll just give you 5 yuan and that's it, okay? Do you think it's okay, old man?"

The reason Wang An said so much was also to make things clear in advance.

In this era in the Northeast, if grain is traded between villagers, besides using scales, that is, using "jin" as a unit of measurement, "sheng" and "dou" will also be used, as well as "shi (dan)."

One shi equals ten dou, and one dou equals ten sheng, but these three units are all units of volume.

But it should be noted that this "sheng," "dou," and "shi" are different from the "sheng," "dou," and "shi" of ancient times.

In ancient times, one sheng of grain was about 1.25 jin, and one dou was about 12.5 jin.

But in the Northeast of this era, one sheng of grain is about 5 jin, and one dou of grain is about 50 jin.

However, the "one dou is about 50 jin" mentioned here refers to rice and flour.

If it is shelled, such as sorghum, grain, paddy, wheat, broomcorn millet, etc., one dou is about 40 jin.

The reason it is said to be "about" is because for the same dou of grain, if the type of grain is different, the weight is completely different.

For example, one dou of millet is heavier than one dou of rice, and one dou of rice is heavier than one dou of corn kernels.

And the reason Wang An emphasized "about 50 jin" is because shelled grain, even if it is filled to the brim in the dou, the extra "tip" cannot reach 10 jin. And broomcorn millet is different from other grains; the surface of broomcorn millet is particularly smooth, and it can be said that it has a slippery feeling. Even if it is filled to the brim, it cannot be much higher, and the excess will slide down.

So after hearing Wang An's words, the old man immediately said with a red face and thick neck: "It's guaranteed to be 50 jin. I know this thing is light, and I added another sheng to the bag."

"Light" means large volume but light weight.

Seeing the old man's change, Wang An was stunned for a moment. Mainly, although Wang An was reborn, sometimes he genuinely used the eyes of later generations to look at people of this era.

You have to know that the vast majority of people in this era were still based on integrity, and things like cheating on weight were rarely done.

So after Wang An handed over the money, he smiled and said:

"Indeed, anyway, I trust you, old man."

Seeing the money, the old man immediately said happily:

"I'm from the Yuliang Village right here. When you get home, you can weigh it on a scale; I guarantee it will only be more, not less."

After Wang An handed over the money, he took out a cigarette, gave one to the old man, took one himself, and started chatting with the old man.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 504 =====