Chapter 23: Sharing the Cake

The sun sets in the west, and its afterglow casts a shadow over the entire Southern Wasteland. Smoke rises from the roof of the village dining hall, and a fragrance wafts out, spreading across the east and west ends of the Southern Wasteland.

People had just finished dinner and couldn't help but sniff when they smelled the fragrance.

Granny Liu and four other people were busy inside.

Pancakes are baked in a large iron pan. One pan can bake seven or eight pancakes. Four pans are used together. The wild vegetable pancakes are put into the pan one by one, turned over, and warmed for a while. All of them are taken out of the pan, making more than twenty pancakes at a time.

Granny Liu picked one, divided it into five portions, and had five people each try one.

The wild vegetable pancake is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, salty and fragrant. The mixture of mixed flour and wild vegetables has an indescribable fragrance, and it tastes better the more you chew it.

Gu Xiyue was willing to let them add oil, although not too much. But compared with the oil they used before, the amount of oil they used now was just right. Even the wild vegetable pancakes they baked were more delicious than those they had eaten in the capital.

The taste was just right. After tasting it, I brushed oil on the pan, pinched the dough and continued to make pancakes, one pan after another, faster and faster. In less than an hour, all the dough was fried.

The four of them counted together and found that there were a total of 302 wild vegetable cakes.

After discussing it, they took out ten pancakes, wrapped them in clean coarse cloth, and planned to send them to Gu Xiyue.

Just after wrapping the cakes, Madam Li heard footsteps outside. She thought it was the villagers coming to get the cakes. She turned around and was about to tell the other ladies, but she found that the people who came to the yard were Gu Xiyue and Meixiang.

Gu Xiyue came over attracted by the fragrance. When Meixiang finished preparing dinner and she had just finished weaving the mosquito repellent grass, she stood up and pounded her sore lower back, preparing to take a break to wash her hands and eat.

Xiao Heng walked back from the road, followed by Hu Mazi and Wei Lin. The two of them looked at each other with disdain as they walked. When they were about to enter the yard, Wei Lin took two quick steps to squeeze in front of Hu Mazi, and followed Xiao Heng with a smug look on his face.

Hu Mazi paused with a cold face, then twitched the corner of his mouth and quickly followed.

Xiao Heng was completely unaware of the little movements of the two people behind him. When he arrived at the gate of the yard, he looked up and saw Gu Xiyue pounding his lower back. There was a pile of mosquito repellent grass on the stone slab beside the yard, there were more than a dozen of them!

He turned around and glared at Wei Lin.

Wei Lin was feeling very proud because he got there first, but he was met with the cold gaze of His Highness.

Wei Lin was confused, but after taking a look at the braided straw hair on the stone slab, he immediately understood.

He immediately said respectfully and apologetically, "I understand. I won't do it again!"

Next time, he should either finish weaving it faster himself or pick less mosquito repellent grass. It's really tiring for Miss Gu to weave so much mosquito repellent grass today!

No wonder His Highness is angry!

wrong?

Why would His Highness be angry?

Wouldn't he...

Before he could take a closer look, Xiao Heng had already turned around and walked into the yard, walking towards Miss Gu.

Wei Lin's face had a complicated expression and he was stunned.

Hu Mazi came up from behind him, looked at him with a smile, and whispered, "Why aren't you leaving? Do you feel the caterpillar still on your neck?"

When the caterpillar was mentioned, Wei Lin almost jumped up, his face turned pale instantly, and he reached out to touch his neck anxiously. Only after finding that there was no caterpillar did he breathe a sigh of relief.

"Are you back?"

Gu Xiyue asked Xiao Heng while washing her hands.

"I went out with Jun Ye and came back to play. Thank you and Meixiang for your hard work today."

Xiao Heng stood next to Gu Xiyue and felt a little uncomfortable when he saw that her white and tender fingers were a little dull.

He continued, "From now on, the mosquito repellent plants will be left to the two of them. This kind of work is not suitable for women."

"It's okay." Gu Xiyue smiled and shook her head, looking at her partner with anticipation in her eyes, "Is everything arranged?"

Xiao Heng nodded, his voice barely audible, "It has already begun, don't worry, Miss Gu."

"Let's eat."

Gu Xiyue was in a good mood.

Dinner was dumpling soup, which was light and refreshing. Gu Xiyue ate a small bowl and then put down her chopsticks.

Meixiang thought that the food she cooked was not tasty, so the young lady ate little. She looked at the young lady with self-blame and wanted to persuade her to eat more.

"I ate too much at noon, and it hasn't been long since then, so I don't feel hungry anymore. This dumpling soup is delicious!"

Xiao Heng glanced at Gu Xiyue calmly and continued eating.

Meixiang felt relieved when she heard the young lady say this.

Seeing that Meixiang had finished eating, Gu Xiyue pushed her bowl aside and stood up. "Husband, you guys eat first. Meixiang and I will go to the dining hall to see. It should be almost time for the villagers to get their cakes."

Xiao Heng nodded, and after seeing the person leave, his mouth movements quickened.

After finishing his meal, he pushed his bowl aside and said to Wei Lin and Hu Mazi, "You two wash the pots and dishes, and light the mosquito repellent grass in the two side rooms."

The two men agreed seriously, and as soon as Xiao Heng left, they looked at each other and looked away, ignoring each other.

**

Madam Liu stuffed the cloth bag into Meixiang's hands and said to Gu Xiyue, "Madam Gu, you will eat these ten cakes tomorrow morning."

Gu Xiyue stopped Madam Liu, took the cloth bag from Meixiang, went into the house, untied the bag, took out five cakes, and poured the other five cakes into the basket.

"Sister Liu, please don't be like this. The food in my room is better than yours. I'll take five and we'll each try one tomorrow morning. If you have any extra, give one to the growing and pregnant children."

Granny Liu listened and nodded, tears in her eyes.

The other four ladies were silent for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Adults can still endure it, but children often cry because of hunger. Pregnant women often do not have enough to eat, and the babies in their belly are also weak. There are several women here who often go hungry when they are pregnant, and their children die within a few days after they are born.

A few people were talking in the house, and people were coming into the yard one after another. Madam Liu asked everyone to line up, and Madam Li took out a booklet and asked people to report their names to receive wild vegetable cakes.

Basically, one person comes from each family, and the booklet records how many people are in their family, how old the children are, and whether there are any pregnant women.

The villagers lined up in turn to receive the cakes. Some of them looked embarrassed, but after receiving the cakes, they put them close to their noses and smelled them, and their eyes lit up.

Gu Xiyue and Meixiang stood in the corner, watching everyone line up in an orderly manner to get the cakes, and they felt very happy.

Meixiang leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Miss, look over there?"

Gu Xiyue looked in the direction Meixiang pointed and saw a woman in her forties standing in the corner on the other side. She held a cake in her hand, smelled it, then looked around. Taking advantage of the late hour, she turned her back to the others and started eating the cake.

She might be really hungry, or the smell of the cake was too fragrant, so she ate it too fast and almost choked. She stretched her neck and exerted force, and it took a long time for the cake to go down her mouth. She took out another cake from her arms, thought about it, and hesitated before putting the cake back into her arms. She turned around and stretched her neck to look forward. She saw that everyone had received the cakes, and their eyes were full of greed.

Gu Xiyue had been keeping an eye on her. When he saw her choking just now, he was about to ask Meixiang to bring her a bowl of water to soothe her. Eating early wasn't a big deal. What was scary was if she choked to death.

Later, I saw that she finally got better, and I felt relieved.

The moment she turned her head, Gu Xiyue remembered her face.

A face with sunken cheeks and a pair of smart and lively eyes. The facial features are easy to remember, especially the eyes.

Gu Xiyue whispered a few words to Meixiang. Meixiang nodded after listening, walked into the house, whispered a few words into Madam Liu's ear, and then came back.

Gu Xiyue saw that Madam Liu was visibly stunned for a moment, then she opened her voice and began to shout, "Fellow villagers, this pancake is for you to eat tomorrow morning, otherwise you will be too hungry to work in the morning. Also, the extra pancakes that anyone receives are for your children or those who are pregnant. Everyone listen carefully!"

The people who had received the cakes had not left yet, and people who wanted to receive the cakes were queuing up. Madam Liu spoke very loudly, and everyone heard her. They nodded and said they understood.

Those who have children or pregnant women at home are very touched. They want to save their own share to feed their children and pregnant women. How could they possibly snatch the food from them?

Gu Xiyue discovered that the woman with sunken cheeks seemed a little guilty after hearing what Madam Liu said.

She suddenly became confused.

Meixiang saw what the young lady was thinking and immediately went to ask who the woman belonged to. When she counted the number of people during the day, there were too many people and most of them had plump cheeks from hunger. Now she couldn't remember who she was.

She was hiding in the corner eating cakes just now, and she looked greedy. After listening to what Madam Liu said, she was obviously guilty, and must be weird!

Gu Xiyue couldn't just ignore it.

Her personal affairs are trivial, but if they fall into the eyes of Gu Xiyue, there are no trivial matters. Any small hidden danger may affect future events.

Soon, Meixiang came back. She trotted over and whispered something in her ear with an angry look on her face. After hearing it, Gu Xiyue's face changed suddenly.