Gianna didn't hesitate. She stepped forward and glanced at the villagers. "Exchanging grain for land is risky. If the land doesn't get rain after the exchange, it will be useless. Whether or not to exchange is up to you. If you think it's not suitable, you don't have to do it."
She had calculated; forty pounds of grain would be enough.
Forty pounds of grain, if saved a little, would be enough for a family of a few to eat for a month.
At this point, Gianna paused for a moment before continuing, "If it weren't for the villagers, I wouldn't want to exchange this grain. After all, it's a lifesaver."
Old Man Liu hesitated.
In the end, he understood that survival was the most important thing. He had six acres of land, so exchanging one acre for forty pounds of grain, along with the food they had stored, would allow them to move to another place.
So, he was the first to step forward and said, "I'm willing to exchange, but I'll only give one acre of land."
Gianna agreed and immediately signaled Floyd to weigh the grain.
The grain was placed in sacks, and after being weighed under the supervision of Old Man Liu's son, Old Man Liu took out the deed for one acre of land.
He handed the deed to Gianna, and the land was now hers.
Once the first exchange happened, more followed.
Several families in the village came forward to exchange grain.
Some offered two acres of land, others three acres, but most were only willing to give one acre.
Old Man Liu stood outside the crowd, watching enviously.
In just a short time, Gianna's family had acquired over ten acres of land.
That was over ten acres!
He felt really tempted, what should he do?
Aunt Liu came over at that moment.
She had been lying at home, conserving her energy so that she wouldn't get hungry too quickly.
However, the noise outside was too loud, so she came out to see what was going on.
Old Man Liu was annoyed when he saw Aunt Liu. "Why are you out here? Go back and lie down."
As expected, Gianna was right. Aunt Liu and Qinna were useless.
Aunt Liu was scared of Old Man Liu. After being yelled at, she shrank her neck and said, "Why are you shouting? I'll go back, okay?"
Old Man Liu didn't want to bother with Aunt Liu. He just kept watching as the grain supply continued to dwindle.
Gianna had more and more land deeds in her hands, and she made up her mind. She stepped forward.
By this point, the villagers who had exchanged grain had already left.
The remaining ones in the yard were those who hadn't yet exchanged.
No matter how important the land was, grain was more important!
Floyd, worried about running out of grain, had even moved a few sacks inside the house. These couldn't be exchanged; they were for the family to eat.
Old Man Liu became even more anxious because the remaining grain in the yard was really running out.
"Can the house be exchanged for grain?"
He wanted to turn all his property into grain and then go find a place with a water source to start fresh.
When Gianna saw Old Man Liu, she felt disgusted.
But then, thinking about their dilapidated house, if Old Man Liu was willing to give up his house, it might not be a bad idea.
After all, when Floyd's parents were still alive, they had built the high walls around the courtyard.
The high walls had significantly increased the security of the house.
Gianna lifted her chin slightly and asked, "What? You want to exchange the house for grain?"
Floyd didn't speak, just quietly stared at Old Man Liu.
He didn't interfere with the matter and left it entirely to Gianna.
Old Man Liu now had two properties: one was a house he had tricked Floyd out of, and the other was the old house where he had lived before.
Old Man Liu nodded and said, "I'll exchange! I'll exchange Floyd's old house. I want two hundred pounds... no, three hundred pounds of grain."
Hearing this amount, Gianna looked at Old Man Liu with disdain.
She sneered, "You must be out of your mind. Do you really think I'll give you that much grain? Three hundred pounds? Are you asking too much?"
Even though one acre of land was worth twelve taels of silver, and forty pounds of grain was worth twelve taels of silver, Floyd's old house probably only amounted to thirty or so taels of silver.
The old man asked, "How much food are you going to give me?"
Gianna raised an eyebrow and said firmly, "One hundred sixty pounds of coarse grain. Take it or leave it. If you don't want it, the deal's off."
She knew very well how the old man was. The more you gave him face, the more arrogant he became.
The old man was silent for a moment, then finally said, "Alright! I also have five acres of land. I'll trade it too."
That way, he would have three hundred sixty pounds of coarse grain. With that much food, he'd definitely do well!
Gianna asked the old man to bring the house deed and land deed.
Big Sea, Aunt Liu, and Qinna were all called over.
The three didn't expect the old man to decide so quickly to trade the food.
However, Qinna was the happiest among them.
Since the day she argued with Gianna, she had felt the change in the way her father-in-law and husband treated her.
They both thought she was just living off them. If she wasn't useful to Big Sea in having children, she would probably end up like Gianna.
She would have been sold by Big Sea's family without hesitation.
As long as she could leave this place, she'd be safe.
And if she met someone good, she'd make sure to stay far away from Big Sea.
Aunt Liu had no objections either.
As long as there was food in the house, she wouldn't be in trouble.
So, the old man handed over the house deed and land deed to Gianna and then called everyone to carry the three hundred-plus pounds of food away.
The rest of the village also traded land deeds for food.
The ground in the yard was left with only two or three hundred pounds of food.
Now that no one was around, Gianna finally couldn't hold back.
"Hahaha," she laughed out loud.
She calculated the land she had gotten, and it was a total of thirty acres.
Thirty acres! That's not a small amount.
After the snow and rain, she could plant the crops.
By the time spring came, she would make sure her family's life would get better.
Floyd rarely saw Gianna so happy.
For some reason, seeing her like this gave him an unspeakable sense of satisfaction.
The two carried the food into the house.
It was a big harvest today, and Gianna used the wild boar meat she had brought to cook some oil, then added the dried vegetables she had soaked.
Finally, she added the grains they had traded for today.
As usual, she swapped the water when Floyd wasn't looking.
She still couldn't handle water that smelled like wild boar urine.
Today, she was so happy that she made a big pot of porridge.
She even added two pieces of compressed biscuits to it.
The whole family ate until they were full.
After eating, Floyd habitually moved a stool and sat under the eaves of the house.
The low wall of the yard gave him an unobstructed view outside.
Gianna wanted to walk off the meal, so she slowly paced around the yard.
"When are we going to collect the land?" Floyd broke the silence.
Gianna thought of the old man's disgusting face and quickly said, "Tomorrow! We'll go tomorrow!"
She had to make sure to kick the old man and his family out right away so she could move into the big house.
The people left in the village were all planning to escape the famine, leaving only five or six families behind.
These people didn't leave because they couldn't; the elderly in their homes were too old to survive the journey.