Chapter 8: Raising Food

"The food we collected yesterday was not enough."

"These are the noodles I ground this morning. I brought them out with me when I came out. Let's cook them together and eat them later. They'll go bad quickly if we don't eat them in this weather."

"I brought half a bag of rice and half a pot of oil from home. They're in the trunk. I'll go get them out now."

"I won't eat with everyone else. All I brought with me were instant noodles and mineral water. But if anyone doesn't have anything to eat, you can come to me and get some."

"It's the same at my house. We couldn't cook if we went out, so we only brought the French bread and milk that our relatives gave us during the Chinese New Year."

"There's an old hen in the cage behind my car. It's been wilting for the past two days due to the rain. I'll kill it and make soup for everyone later."

"That's perfect. I have some aniseed and a bag of wolfberries. I'll go get them."

Huang Liping and Jiang Qian also returned to the car, packed five kilograms of rice and more than two kilograms of frozen meat from the refrigerator into plastic bags, and also took out most of the vegetables they had picked from the vegetable garden in the rain.

"I also brought several tomatoes and cucumbers."

"I have eggplant and beans."

"I brought the rapeseed oil I made at home."

"And me, I took out the frozen ribs from the refrigerator before I came."

"I have flour and half a bag of cornmeal. My in-laws planted spring corn at home and I just ground it."

"I brought some sweet potato vermicelli from home."

…

Everyone talked about the things they brought from home.

Soon, a large pile of them was placed on the table in front of the Buddha statue.

The young monk, who was already feeling quite uncomfortable, saw so many things and someone was constantly taking them out of the car, so he hurriedly stopped them.

"That's enough, that's enough. The other temples also have supplies collected by the villagers. These are enough for us to eat until tomorrow. You don't need to give too much. If the situation is good tomorrow, we can go down the mountain to buy more. If the situation is not good, it won't be too late for everyone to give more."

As the amount of things collected increased, exceeding the monks' expectations, each hall had to send people to accompany the monks to deliver the collected supplies to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, skilled chefs from each village were already in place, and they were surprised to see so many ingredients.

Several chefs discussed it and decided on the menu for the evening.

"There are so many varieties, let's eat stew!"

Because there is not much flour, we don’t steam buns as the staple food.

The chefs first boil water on the stove next to them, and when the water is slightly boiling, they put in rice and millet to cook porridge.

Then they processed the meat and ribs, slicing or chopping them into small pieces. They didn't kill the old hen in a hurry, but kept it aside to make soup tomorrow.

Next, process the vegetarian dishes.

Various dried goods are first soaked in water, and the fresh vegetables are washed by the women helping in the kitchen, and those that need to be cut into pieces are cut into pieces, and those that need to be cut are cut into pieces.

Several of the master chefs are often involved in weddings and funerals, so they have great skills and are very efficient.

In less than an hour, two large pots of stew were ready, and the millet porridge next to it was also cooked thick.

The chefs poured the prepared meals into stainless steel thermos buckets and sent people to deliver them from hall to hall.

Although everyone had to leave their homes due to the heavy rain and crowded into the temple with so many people, being able to eat something hot at this time was a comfort to everyone.

With a bowl of vegetables and a bowl of millet porridge per person, most people can eat their fill.

After having a full meal, everyone felt a little better and was no longer so anxious looking at the heavy rain outside.

Although the main hall and the side halls had electricity, they were only connected to a single light bulb, so the brightness was limited. There was no signal in the temple, and apart from a villager who found two decks of playing cards from his car, there was no other entertainment.

The old people and children were tired after a whole day of hard work.

Some people went back to their cars to sleep, while others brought bedding and slept on the floor in the corner of the hall.

Seeing that some people were taking a break, those who were playing cards and talking in the corner lowered their voices.

Jiang Qian and her family returned to their car.

The bus has a large interior space, and sleeping in the bus is actually more comfortable than sleeping on the floor in the hall.

The two mattresses in the car can be fully unfolded and can accommodate six people lying horizontally.

Close the car door, draw the curtains, and the completely enclosed environment will make you feel more at ease.

Huang Liping unpacked the packed bedding from the last row of seats and spread it on two mattresses. The six people in the family were separated by gender, with three people on one mattress, which was just enough.

The sound of rain hitting the car roof is the best lullaby. Even if you are not in a familiar environment, people who have been busy and worried all day can still fall asleep early.

When I woke up the next morning, the sky outside was still gray.

Jiang Qian glanced at the phone next to her. It was only six o'clock in the morning.

She, the still sleeping Ren Ru, and her little nephew Mingchen were the only ones left in the car; her parents and Jiang Dong had disappeared.

Jiang Qian stood up and was about to get out of the car to see what was going on outside when she saw a group of people driving out from a distance.

She put on her raincoat and went to the hall where she had stayed yesterday.

Most people had already gotten up, leaving only a few children lying there in a daze. However, those who had woken up did not look well.

Jiang Qian looked around a few times and found her mother in the corner of the hall. Her mother was talking quietly with several aunts and mothers-in-law from the same village.

Jiang Qian walked over, "Mom, where are my dad and Dongzi?"

Huang Liping turned around and saw that it was her daughter. She replied, "Your father and Dongzi just went out with someone."

Jiang Qian thought of the car she had just seen. "Did they just go out? I think I saw it. What were they doing driving out?"

Huang Liping sighed, "Let's go check on the situation in the village. Many people are trying to find a place with a signal to contact the outside world. Otherwise, we'll be trapped in this temple and not know anything."

"Oh." Jiang Qian nodded and looked around. "Why are there so few people in the hall? Haven't they all woken up yet?"

"We've gotten up. Some of us are going to the back to help with cooking," Huang Liping said, looking at the still gloomy sky. "We don't know when this rain will stop. We're not sure if the food we brought is enough. The chef in the kitchen said this morning that the food we collected yesterday wasn't enough. We even asked someone to collect some more this morning to cook. I took out the remaining half bag of rice we have at home. I think we should still eat sparingly."

Thinking about the prophecy her daughter made the day before yesterday, she felt uneasy and had a bad premonition.

An aunt from the same family who was standing nearby chatting overheard this and said, "Liping, you're exaggerating! Your family drives such a big car and even runs a small store at home. How can you not have enough food?"

The aunt dismissed Huang Liping's concerns. "Besides, no matter how heavy the rain gets, can it keep falling? It will stop in two or three days at most. Today is already the third day. Even if we don't have much to bring, we can help each other and hold on until the rain stops."

Jiang Qian was not so optimistic and did not want to give others the impression that her family was wealthy.

"Although our car was large, like everyone else, we mostly took valuable household appliances. We didn't bring much food. Our store was small, and we only had so much stuff. We were supposed to restock it by the end of the month, but before we evacuated, the whole village came to buy things, and all we had left were a few packets of dumplings. Those who came to buy things know this."

"Besides, even if the rain stops, the water on the bridge won't go down, the road will be blocked, and we won't be able to go home, and we still won't be able to find food. What's more, I don't think the rain will stop for a while. What if we have to stay in this mountain for ten days or eight days? How can we eat enough with the little food we brought if we don't save it a little?"

Jiang Qian didn't mind contributing her own food, and was happy to help everyone. Otherwise, she wouldn't have asked her mother for ginger, rice, and vegetables yesterday. But there were limits to all this.

Until the situation becomes clear, she always wants to leave more protection for her family.

"You're right. I've lived for over seventy years, and this is the first time I've seen such heavy rain." The other grandmother standing nearby agreed with Jiang Qian. "This rain will probably continue for another two days. It's always a good idea to think ahead."

The aunt who had just spoken next to her stopped talking after hearing this, and the people around who heard the mother-in-law's words also showed a thoughtful expression.

Seeing that someone had heard it, Jiang Qian took it to heart, so she didn't say anything else and went back to her family's bus with her mother.

In the car, Ren Ru had already woken up and was dressing her son Jiang Mingchen.

Huang Liping looked at her grandson's autumn clothes, then took out a child's sweater from the luggage bag behind her and handed it to Ren Ru.

"The temperature outside is lower than yesterday. You should wear more clothes to avoid catching a cold."

"Okay." Ren Ru looked outside, took the sweater, put it back on her son first, and then put on a coat for herself.

As Huang Liping spoke, she remembered what had just happened and gave her daughter-in-law some instructions.

"Your dad and Dongzi are out with someone, so you and Chenchen shouldn't get out. Just stay in the car. Qianqian and I will take a pot and bring our meal over. When your dad comes back, we'll discuss it and decide whether to eat in the car from now on."

Ren Ru was a little curious about the sudden decision.

"What's wrong, Mom?"

"It's okay." Huang Liping shook her head, hesitated for a moment, and still said nothing.

At around seven o'clock, the meal prepared in the kitchen was delivered.

Huang Liping took the pot from home and brought back all the food for her family.

The fresh vegetables collected by each family yesterday have almost been eaten, and all that is available for eating this morning are some flour and dried vegetables that are easy to preserve.

The chefs in the kitchen searched every nook and cranny and found some leftover seasonings from the temple fair in the corner of the cabinet, so they made this pot of spicy soup in the morning.

In addition to this pot of spicy soup, each person also has a small steamed bun or a small bowl of noodles.

Although each steamed bun was not big, Jiang Qian estimated that the flour in the temple kitchen had been almost used up with the addition of six or seven hundred steamed buns.

However, the old hen seemed to be in better spirits and even laid an egg in the morning, so she escaped the fate of being killed.

Jiang Qian wanted to remind everyone not to consume food so quickly. Even if the rain stops in three to five days, it does not mean that the flood is over. If the subsequent roads are blocked or rescue cannot keep up, the situation will be worse than it is now.

But looking at the compressed portion of food in front of her, which only made everyone half full after eating, she couldn't open her mouth at all.

Jiang Qian sighed.

That's all.

If there really isn't enough to eat and the predicted doomsday doesn't come, the food they brought will be enough for the villagers to survive for a while.

【Author’s words】

I really like stews. The older I get, the more I like them. I ate them a few days ago, but unfortunately the chef made it too oily and it was a bit greasy.

Sometimes I really feel that humans are very complex creatures, including the author herself. Perhaps it is complexity that can be called human nature, and this is the root and manifestation of what distinguishes humans from other animals.

Faced with different situations, or even the same situation, different people will make the same or different choices.

The next chapter should be updated the day after tomorrow.

Today is the eighth chapter. Hmm, let's make a rule: for chapters ending in eight, send a small red envelope in the comment section. I'll get one today! Thank you all for your support!