Kang, Fengluo.
Though Kang and the southwestern allied forces were tearing at each other's hair and fighting fiercely, the country itself remained peaceful. The capital, Fengluo, was even more lively, with singing and dancing everywhere. Prices at grain shops and cloth stores hadn't gone up in a frenzy; they'd actually dropped by a copper. Fruit and vegetables had fluctuated a little, but not much.
A young scholar paused outside a grain shop.
His gaze fell on the sign displaying the day's grain prices.
"What a handsome young gentleman. Are you looking to buy something?" The shop assistant didn't dare chase him off, given his attire, and quietly told the owner that such a big man standing outside without buying anything was hurting business.
The owner rolled her eyes and waved the assistant back to work. She would deal with this customer herself. A warm smile spread across her face. As the saying went, you couldn't hit someone who was smiling. To make money in business, you needed not only good quality and fair prices, but also to make customers feel valued.
The young scholar pointed at the sign.
"Is this the price for this year's new grain?"
Grain cost three times as much in other regions, and sometimes even at triple the price, it couldn't be bought. Whenever war broke out elsewhere, grain merchants took advantage of the chaos to drive up prices, sometimes to twenty or thirty times their usual level. This was the capital of Kang, yet grain was astonishingly cheap.
The owner smiled. "How could it be new grain? The fields around the capital haven't even reached harvest time. This is all from last year. It may not be new grain, but it comes from Heyin and is Grade A. Just cook it over a simple wood