Chapter 57: Too Expensive

There was no moon or stars in the sky.

Every household lit up lanterns, and the carriage could only illuminate a small area around it, and it was pitch black all around.

Occasionally, animals howled around, and the grass in the carriage was scared to go straight into the old lady's arms.

Uncle Ma got off the car and quickly adjusted the positions of several cars in the team.

The car he and Gu Zhang drove was in the front, and the car driven by Gu Sanlang and the uncle was in the back.

The uncle was a mountain man and often went into the mountains to hunt. Although he was older, in his fifties, he was brave and experienced. He walked in the back and could respond to any emergencies in time.

After adjusting, continue to move forward.

At this time, the people walking were all tightly attached to the side of the car. The unknown darkness was really terrible.

If you walk fast, you can reach the ten-mile road in two quarters of an hour.

But this group of people walked for a day and were very tired. It took almost half an hour to reach the inn that Uncle Ma mentioned.

Seeing the light of the inn, everyone was delighted.

The inn was surrounded by a circle of low loess walls, which meant to enclose a place.

Everyone drove the car in, and the waiter at the door shouted, "Guests are coming——"

None of the group had any experience in going out, and they all rushed into the inn without unloading the car.

Qian found a bench and collapsed on it.

Li was weak to begin with. Although she rested several times in the car along the way, she was not much better than Qian, and leaned on a chair to catch her breath.

Li Chunhua and Chen were in good condition. They hurriedly untied their bags and took water to drink.

The men gathered in front of the counter, and Uncle Ma asked the shopkeeper, "How do you stay in the hotel?"

The shopkeeper glanced at the clothes of the group of people and saw that they were all country men. He slowly said, "The upper room is one tael of silver, and four buckets of hot water are provided. The other rooms are five hundred coins per night, and only one bucket of hot water is provided. The common bed is twenty coins per night, and there is nothing. You have to use your own bedding and luggage. If you want bedding, you have to pay separately."

"The rest of the grass for the animals is five coins per bundle. If you want it, go to the waiter to buy it yourself."

The village chief frowned, "Shopkeeper, this common bed is not cheap at twenty coins, and it only provides a bowl of water. All is not enough? "

The shopkeeper raised his eyelids, "Twenty cents is good enough to have a sheltered place, and you still want water to drink?"

"You can buy water if you want to drink it, one hundred cents a bucket, if you want to drink it, you can collect firewood and burn it yourself."

Zhang Laoda was the first to shout, "You sell this water too expensive, right?"

The shopkeeper shook his head, "Do you know where this water comes from? The water in the well is dry! I hired people to fetch water from the Yangshizi River more than ten miles away. I have to pay dozens of cents for a bucket of water. If you think it's too expensive, go to the river to fetch it yourself."

Everyone was silent. The drought was getting worse and worse.

When I went out this morning, my family also fetched half a bucket of muddy water.

Uncle Ma didn't say anything, looking at everyone. He was only concerned about getting on the road. As for how everyone wanted to stay in the hotel, each family had their own ideas, and he couldn't control it.

The village chief spoke first, "My family lives in a dormitory, and the road is long, and the money is not worth spending."

"Buy another bucket of water, we will boil it ourselves."

Everyone also thought that it was more cost-effective to live in a dormitory.

There are eight people in the village chief's family, the old couple plus two sons and two daughters-in-law, a grandson in his teens, and a nine-year-old granddaughter.

The village chief took out a purse from his arms, counted the copper coins and said to the shopkeeper: "I don't need to pay for my two children, right?"

The shopkeeper rolled his eyes, "Why not? Your children don't take up space when they sleep?"