Tian Yu woke up before dawn. The rain outside had lessened considerably. Seeing that Tang Yuan and Zhao Moyan were still asleep, she quietly got out of bed and left the tent. As soon as Tian Yu left, Zhao Moyan opened his eyes, got out of bed, and followed behind her. Only after seeing Tian Yu go to the mess hall did he feel relieved and return to the tent.

Tian Yu arrived at the mess hall in the dark. Several soldiers inside had already started preparing breakfast. When they saw Tian Yu, they politely saluted and called her "Madam." Tian Yu smiled and nodded in agreement.

An older cook came up and asked, "Madam, are you hungry? Breakfast isn't ready yet."

"No, I'm here to help," Tian Yu quickly explained, waving her hand.

"Help? It's too messy here, Madam. You'd better go back. I'll have someone bring the food to you when it's ready," the old cook said.

"Uncle, what are you planning to cook?" Tian Yu asked casually as she looked around.

"Everything's soaked by the rain, so there's not much to eat. All that's left is rice porridge, pickled vegetables, and steamed buns. The firewood's all wet too, so it won't burn well. The flour's also soaked through; these are the only good bags left," the older cook explained to Tian Yu.

"I'll prepare breakfast, but could you please lend a hand?" Tian Yu said as she walked around the kitchen.

“How can we do that? If the Marquis finds out, he’ll blame us,” the old cook said, and the others nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry, he won't blame you. Let's get started!" Tian Yu said, already rolling up her sleeves and beginning to pack up.

"Well... alright then! Everyone get to work and start cooking!" the old cook called out, urging everyone to get to work.

Do you have any wine?

"have!"

The firewood was indeed soaked through and difficult to burn. Tian Yu poured some wine and found some slightly drier firewood to barely get a flame going. There was a lot of smoke, but at least there was a fire. First, she boiled water, cleaned a few pork bones and some scraps, and put them in a pot to simmer. Then she poured out the flour that had been soaked by the rain. Tian Yu checked and saw that it was still edible, but it was all soaked through. She sprinkled some dry flour on top and kneaded it into dough. She instructed a few soldiers to use knives to cut the noodles into the broth after it was cooked, and she even demonstrated for them. In this way, several large pots were started to simmer together. Tian Yu picked up the vegetables that had been soaked by the rain, cleaned them, and added some clean vegetables. Finally, she poured everything into the pots. She sliced ​​the remaining cold steamed buns, coated them with batter, and fried them in oil. The knife-cut noodles were cooked pot after pot and put into a large wooden bucket, which soldiers then carried away. It was already getting light outside, and the soldiers had begun to line up for their meals. Each person received a bowl of knife-cut noodles with three slices of fried steamed bun.

"It's delicious! Who said we were going to run out of food? Look, we still have food to eat!" the soldier said as he ate.

“I don’t believe it either. With Lord Hou and General Li around, how could there be a shortage of food?” another soldier said.

"I wonder when this rain will stop. I heard the roads down the mountain are all blocked. How many days will this food last?" another person sighed.

Hearing the discussions outside, Tian Yu realized that so much had happened in the military camp. Li Yong rushed in and said loudly, "Hey! As soon as I saw the food outside, I knew that my sister-in-law must have cooked again. Quick, get me some too!" As he spoke, he picked up a steamed bun and started eating.

The cooks had already gotten to work, so Tian Yu had nothing left to do. Everyone told her to go back and rest, but Tian Yu only gave a few instructions to make sure the fire didn't go out. Thinking that Tang Yuan should be awake by now, she took the food back to her tent.

Zhao Moyan was already reading with Tangyuan when he saw Tian Yu come in, then he put down his book and started eating breakfast. Before he finished breakfast, Li Yong came in and said, "Brother, the road to the county town is blocked. It must be because the rain washed down rocks and mud from the mountain and blocked the road."

"Mudslide! Is there no other way to go?" Tian Yu asked anxiously. She had just heard in the kitchen that the road down the mountain was blocked, but she didn't expect it to be this serious.

"Don't worry, sister-in-law, we'll figure something out."

“Let’s go! Let’s go take a look.” Zhao Moyan put down his chopsticks and stood up.

"Wait a minute, Li Yong, if you see any fish or animals on the road, remember to pick them up, otherwise we won't have any vegetables for lunch."

"Alright, don't worry, sister-in-law! I'll send a few people to keep an eye on the area later."

"Remember, you can pick up anything you find," Tian Yu instructed as she chased after them out of the tent, afraid they might miss out on some delicious food.

"Understood!" Li Yong replied loudly.

After having breakfast, Tian Yu saw that the rain had stopped, so she took Tangyuan and went out for a walk. Zhao Moyan and Li Yong had already led people to clear the gravel from the road. Tian Yu felt there was nothing she could do to help, so she could only prepare food for them to have the energy to work and clear the gravel so she could go home sooner.

Tangyuan pulled a crab out of a puddle and said to Tianyu, "Mommy, look what I caught!"

"Crabs!" Tian Yu's eyes lit up when she saw freshwater crabs, and she and Tang Yuan looked around to see if there were any more. They actually found quite a few, big and small.

When Tian Yu arrived at the mess hall, several cooks were worrying about what to cook for lunch. They all gathered around her, looking at each other. Finally, the eldest cook, whom everyone called Old Li, said, "Madam, we've run out of vegetables for lunch. You used them all this morning, and there's not even enough left for half the people."

"It's alright, I'll figure something out. How much rice do we have left?" Tian Yu comforted her.

"We have enough rice to last a few days, but we're out of vegetables. We can't just eat rice all the time!"

"Okay, you prepare the rice first, and I'll prepare the dishes."

The cooks were a little worried, but they still went to prepare the rice. Tian Yu played with the crabs with Tangyuan (sweet rice balls). After a while, several soldiers returned carrying several bamboo baskets. Tian Yu clapped her hands and went to look. To her surprise, there were many fish, large in size and of many kinds, as well as some small animals like pheasants and birds from the mountains. Tian Yu was very satisfied. The soldiers said there was a small river nearby with many fish, and Tian Yu told them to go catch some more after lunch. The soldiers all nodded in agreement. Tian Yu gave them a few instructions to be careful and then told them to go back and rest. The cooks also came over to look. Old Li said, "With so many fish, let's eat fish for lunch! But we have limited seasonings here, so it might be very fishy if we don't handle it properly."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!