In addition to fish and milk, there are also eels, snails and some river shrimps. These are the dishes for restaurant diners in a day. There are quite a lot of them. The fish, eels and snails can all be kept first, and some of the fish must be eaten today.
So Xu Qinyu made milk buns with all the milk that was sent to her, and stewed the fish by cutting it into pieces. She also made a fish soup by chopping the fish into a paste, adding eggs, some pork belly paste, and mung bean starch that she made herself, and a little salt. Finally, she added ginger and shallot segments and water three times and stirred vigorously in one direction. Finally, she steamed it in hot water for half a minute until it was cooked.
They can't finish these things in the next two days, nor can they keep them. There are many victims outside. If they want to recover quickly, they not only need medical treatment, but also nutrition. Both are indispensable. So since they can't finish these things, they might as well make them in the next few days to provide nutrition for the victims outside the city and the doctors who treat them. It will also help the victims get better quickly and register their household registration. The people in Yuanbao Town can also return to normal life earlier, and Xu Ji can open its doors sooner.
While Xu Qinyu cooked, Cheng Ge'er, Xu Feng, the other four children, and the eldest girl all watched from the side. It was clear that they were willing to learn cooking skills from Xu Qinyu. Gong Ge'er, however, was not so good. He couldn't control himself. Whether standing or sitting for a long time, he felt like ants were crawling on his body. Moreover, he didn't seem to have any talent for cooking, so he didn't force himself and found happiness in running errands and doing groceries for his fourth sister-in-law.
While Xu Qinyu was stewing the fish, she asked Gong Ge'er to run to the county government office to tell the county magistrate that she had prepared breakfast and would ask the yamen runners to carry it out of the town to deliver it to the victims and the doctor. She also carefully instructed Gong Ge'er to tell the county magistrate that the yamen runners must cover their mouths and noses when serving food to the victims, and let the victims eat the food in their own bowls and not share it with others, otherwise the disease would be transmitted to each other.
The dishes and chopsticks after eating must be washed with water and then scalded with hot water. Always make sure that the food you eat is rinsed with hot water and clean.
In addition, after cooking, I would clean her pots outside the town, scald them with boiling water, and then bring them back to her.
The county magistrate was originally worried about how to provide food for the disaster victims outside the town. When he saw that Miss Xu was willing to help, he was very grateful and asked Gong Ge'er to convey his thanks to Xu Qinyu.
Xu Qinyu had just finished breakfast when the yamen runners came to her door.
She kept some milk buns, fish soup and a pot of stewed fish for herself, and had the rest carried by the yamen runners onto a donkey cart and sent out of the town.
The yamen runners began to salivate at the aroma, thinking that the disaster victims were so lucky to be able to eat breakfast prepared by Miss Xu herself. Normally, they would only come to Xu's restaurant once a month to satisfy their cravings.
But the yamen runners also knew that this was made by Miss Xu for the victims, so they didn't dare to eat it and immediately sent it out of the town.
The soldiers guarding the town entrance smelled the fragrance from afar and turned around to see that the county government officials were driving two donkey carts towards them. On the donkey carts were several large wooden basins and two large iron pots.
When the yamen runners drove the donkey cart to the town entrance and told the officers and soldiers that the food was for the disaster victims outside the town, the officers and soldiers let them go, still staring at the breakfast in the wooden basin and iron pot.
The yamen runners parked the furnace cart under the wooden shed, and asked the victims to put their bowls a few feet away so as not to come into contact with them, and then distributed the breakfast.
The milk buns Xu Qinyu made this time were bigger than the ones sold in restaurants on ordinary days. One was as big as two adult fists, but not the kind that would become soft and squishy when pinched and could be stuffed in one bite. The milk buns were thick and layered, and a child could be full with one. However, considering that the victims had been hungry for a long time and had big appetites, Xu Qinyu asked the yamen runners to give each adult a bowl of stewed fish and three milk buns, and each child a bowl of fish soup and two milk buns.
In addition to these victims, the two doctors staying under the wooden shed were also listless. But when they smelled the fragrance, they became more energetic and stared eagerly into the wooden basin and the big pot.
The twenty-something doctor whispered, "This aroma sounds like Xu Ji's steamed buns and stewed fish. My wife went to Xu Ji to buy the stewed fish at the door and also bought steamed buns for breakfast. The smell is exactly the same. It's really fragrant."
Among breakfast items, steamed buns with milk are the cheapest. His family is poor, otherwise he would not take the risk for these twenty taels of silver.
The yamen runner also shouted in the distance, "Miss Xu said that these are breakfast rations, and evening rations will be sent to you. Don't save your rations. Remember to eat them all. A full stomach will help you recover faster. Hurry and take your rice bowls. The fish pieces are for adults, and the fish soup is for children and seriously ill patients."
The victims then hurried over to take away their food bowls. They were still wearing the gauze masks distributed by the county magistrate, and these masks were soaked in patchouli water.
The doctors said that patchouli could cure diarrhea, and Miss Xu also said that the gauze covering the mouth and nose should be soaked in some medicine, so the county magistrate asked two doctors outside the town to boil a lot of patchouli water for the victims to drink, and the rest was soaked on the gauze.
Ordinary people in the city can also buy some patchouli and boil it in water to drink.
The victims took back their food bowls, swallowed hard, and could no longer hold back, so they took a bite of the milk buns, and then their eyes widened.
There were also those children who were as thin as bean sprouts, huddled cautiously in their parents' arms, "Mom, what is this food? It smells so good. Is it really for us?"
The adults said with tears in their eyes, "Yes, kids, eat quickly." They fed their children the fish soup mouthful by mouthful.
The child didn't know how to describe the taste, so he just opened his mouth wide and said in surprise, "Mom, this is so delicious. Mom, this smells so good and tastes so good." Even before they fled the famine, they had never eaten such delicious steamed buns.
These disaster victims had seen that the breakfast they were given was mostly fine white flour buns. They had never eaten such fine flour food with a milky aroma on their way to escape the famine, so they saved it for later. But they couldn't stop eating one bite after another. Before they knew it, the three buns and the bowl of fish fillets were all eaten up. After eating, they couldn't help smacking their lips to savor the delicious taste.
Some of the victims who originally wanted to escape even thought that if they could eat these every morning and evening, it would be worth it even if they died here, so they decided not to run away.
These disaster victims were quite obedient. After eating, they fetched water, boiled it, and washed the dishes thoroughly.
The water they used was also well water brought from the town.
The yamen runners also cleaned Xu Ji's wooden basin and iron pot, scalded them with hot water, and sent them back.
Xu Qinyu had finished breakfast with everyone in the restaurant and was making wine.
The surface soil of these wild grapes has been washed off, but the layer of white frost on top has not been washed off. This is natural fruit frost, which can make the wine ferment to produce a better taste.
Crush the grapes and place them in a wine jar without oil or water, then cover with a layer of rock sugar.
In fact, when making wine, you also need to pay attention to the ratio of grapes to rock sugar, otherwise the taste of the wine will be different. Too much sugar will make it too sweet, and too little sugar will make it bitter or too sour.
Xu Qinyu has a natural sense of food and knows how much rock sugar to add to these grapes without weighing them.
The grapes in the wine jar cannot be filled too full, otherwise they will overflow during fermentation. The mouth of the wine jar cannot be sealed too tightly.
She made nearly twenty jars of wine with these wild grapes, which consumed a lot of rock sugar, almost using up all the sugar she had bought before.
She intended to make money from the wine, so she wouldn't sell it too cheaply. She would keep some in the restaurant and send the rest to Raozhou City to sell, where there were many wealthy businessmen and officials.
Of course, this amount of wine is definitely not enough to sell. She originally planned to let Gongger and others continue to go to the mountain to help pick grapes today, and make more wine, maybe one or two hundred jars. Now they definitely can't go to the mountain, and it's the same to wait until the victims get better before leaving the city. There are too many wild grapes, and no one eats them. They won't all be ripe in a short time. Some hilltops will ripen more slowly due to lack of sunshine and rain.
That evening, Xu Qinyu steamed herring with bean rice, braised the fish head, and used the bones to make a thick, white fish soup. Not a single piece of fish was wasted. She added nothing to the soup except a little salt and chopped green onions, as she didn't even have tofu. She usually bought tofu at noon, but today, with no one setting up stalls, she didn't buy any vegetables. Yet, even this fish soup tasted delicious.
Braised black carp with rice is made by slicing the black carp into slices, adding shredded ginger, green onion, salt, Huadiao wine, soy sauce and a little five-spice powder and marinating for 15 minutes. When the bean rice starts to bubble and become thick, spread the marinated fish slices evenly on the bean rice and simmer for half an hour until it is cooked.
She has made pork ribs braised rice for her family, but she has never made fish fillet braised rice. The taste is equally good and the fish fillets are tender and fresh.
The bean rice is cooked with soaked beans and rice stalks. The grains are distinct and have absorbed the freshness and fat of the fish fillets. It is shiny and fragrant.
I used up all the fish today.
The stewed fish heads were sent to the yamen to improve the meals of the yamen runners, while the fish fillet stewed rice and fish bone soup were sent outside the city.
The victims were completely relieved to see that they were really given evening meals. After eating the fish fillet stewed with rice and drinking a bowl of fish bone soup, they felt dazed and wondered if they were dead. Otherwise, how could they eat such delicious food? Even if they dreamed of it on ordinary days, they would never dream of such delicious food.
The two doctors who lived in the wooden shed at the entrance of the town were no longer so listless after a day of delicious food. They were full of energy and took the pulses of the victims and made decoctions for them. Even for the victims who had not been reported, they would cook some patchouli water or other decoctions for them to drink.
The next day, Xu Qinyu prepared eel porridge and shrimp porridge for breakfast.
The black carp, milk, eels and river shrimps that Mr. He sent yesterday were all consumed, leaving some large snails. She asked Cheng Ge'er to lead Xu Feng and others to smash the snail meat, clean it, and make pepper and salt snail meat for everyone to satisfy their cravings.
There was not much food left in the evening, only some live poultry and eggs.
At noon, Xu Qinyu went to find Tian the butcher and wanted to buy some pork ribs from him. Pork ribs with the meat removed were cheaper and could be used to make soup. In the evening, she could cook some pork rib noodle soup for the victims.
Butcher Tian knew that Miss Xu was making food for the victims, so he confiscated the money from her and said, "Miss Xu is kind-hearted. I don't have many bones. Please wait for half an hour. I will go find other butchers to collect some. When I have enough, I will send them all to Xu's. Miss, please go back and rest first."
These shanks were already sold cheaply, so the butchers didn't charge for them.
So the evening meal is pork bone soup noodles with a poached egg and some amaranth on top, which looks very appetizing.
As summer approached, there was a lot of amaranth and it was sold cheaply. Xu Qinyu asked Tian the butcher to buy it for her.
Xu Qinyu was busy for two days, and the others were also busy. They all helped to wash, pick and cut vegetables, and clean the kitchen.
Xu Qinyu had her evening meal at the restaurant before returning. She went back to Guihua Lane first, and Cheng Ge'er and the others cleaned up the restaurant before returning.
When Cheng Ge'er and Gong Ge'er were returning home, they met some neighbors. Although everyone stayed at home, they would occasionally open the courtyard door and stand at the door to look outside. Naturally, they saw Cheng Ge'er and Gong Ge'er returning with their mouths and noses covered.
The neighbors near Guihua Lane all recognized the two brothers and greeted them, "Chengge'er Gong, why are you still running around outside?"
The two boys scratched their heads and said, "We just came back from the restaurant. They still have some food. Fourth Sister-in-law thought that the disaster victims outside the city might not have any food either. She also said that if they eat well, their illness will heal faster. Once the disaster victims' diarrhea is cured, the people in Yuanbao Town can resume their lives sooner. So Fourth Sister-in-law has been cooking food in the restaurant for the disaster victims and the doctor outside the city for the past two days."
When the neighbors heard this, they all looked at each other in confusion. Later, they thought that Miss Xu had a kind heart, otherwise she would not have cared enough to sell cheap fish to them.
These neighbors wanted to help if they could, as they couldn't let Miss Xu bear all this alone.
So they would send whatever they had at home, a bundle of firewood, two bunches of vegetables, two handfuls of rice or something like that.
This news also spread to several nearby alleys, and everyone sent what they could. Some of the wealthier families also sent chickens, ducks, two pounds of meat, some white flour and rice to Xu's restaurant.
Not only that, later even the wealthy businessmen from East Street and West Street, and the customers who often ate at Xu's, heard about this. They all felt that Miss Xu was righteous and also sent a lot of food and rice to Xu's.
However, this was two or three days away. Xu Qinyu had no shortage of food, and even had some left over. She planned to give the remaining rice and grain to the victims once they recovered. At least they would have enough to eat, and their lives would be better in the future.
In the following days, Xu Qinyu became even more creative in cooking for the victims.
She picked wild mushrooms from the mountain, some of which she kept for her family to eat, and the rest were ordinary mushrooms that could not be poisonous. She used them to stew mushroom chicken soup with chicken. She was also afraid that the victims would recognize the mushrooms and go to the mountain to pick them themselves, and accidentally pick poisonous ones that would become bad.
So the mushrooms were torn into pieces and became soft when stewed with chicken soup. You couldn't tell what they were, but the taste was amazing. The chicken soup was rich and delicious, and the chicken was stewed to be very tender, not dry at all. The victims were so dazed after eating that they forgot that they were infected with the plague and might not live long.
…
The victims outside the city had been living like this for two days. The two doctors found that they were still fine and had not been infected with diarrhea. They couldn't help but cry with joy. They also knew that the preventive measures mentioned by the county magistrate were useful. Maybe this time the diarrhea could really be controlled and there was no need to burn all the victims to death.
The doctors and people in the town were shocked to see that the two doctors outside the town were not infected with diarrhea.
In addition, after hearing about the righteous act of Miss Xu from Xu's Restaurant, several old doctors felt a little ashamed and decided to go outside the town to help treat patients with diarrhea.
With the participation of several old doctors, they took the patients' pulses after taking precautions and re-prescribed medicine for seriously ill patients.
These patients were relegated to a patch of woods. The southwest summer heat wasn't particularly intense, and the trees provided shade from the sun, protecting them from the sun. These disaster victims and diarrhea patients simply ate and slept, at least for the time being, without worries. Furthermore, with the increasing number of doctors available, they took their medicines diligently, followed the county magistrate's advice, and took precautions, covering their mouths and noses and washing their hands frequently. Consequently, there were originally around twenty diarrheal patients, but seven or eight more in the past two days. These individuals were likely already infected, but waited two days before showing symptoms. The rest were completely gone.
There were about a hundred victims in this group. After another two or three days, there were still only the twenty-seven patients suffering from diarrhea, and the doctors felt more relieved.
Because when diarrheal diseases like this appear among disaster victims, they will spread from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred. Almost no one can escape, and they all get infected with diarrhea and wait to die.
The victims also knew that they should be saved, and their mentality became better and better. They were thinking about food all day long, and after eating breakfast, they looked forward to dinner in the evening.
After another three or two days, several patients with mild diarrhea had completely recovered, which made the victims very happy and gave them hope.
There were only a few patients with particularly serious diarrhea conditions, including the woman Xu Qinyu saw at the beginning, who was carried on a man's back. She was almost in a semi-comatose state, with a deathly look on her face. Her husband usually forced her to eat, and she basically had soup every day.
After eating like this for a few days, the woman was more conscious and was able to eat some milk buns, bean rice and other dishes. There was also a girl about ten years old who was also very ill, but her family never gave up and carried her all the way here. At first, she could only drink some soup, but after she could eat harder food, she ate very voraciously and gobbled it down. Her condition gradually improved, which even surprised the doctor.
Others didn’t know that such delicious food had stimulated their desire to survive, and they didn’t want to wait for death anymore. They all wanted to live well and eat such delicious food in the future.
So, several seriously ill patients gradually recovered, except for one who was too old and couldn't hold on. He drank medicine for several days but it didn't help. He was found dead the next morning. His family didn't cry or make a fuss. They even thought that their old father had enjoyed such a delicious meal before his death, which was a great honor. Following the county magistrate's instructions, they collected some firewood, burned the old man's body, and placed some of the ashes in an urn, intending to find a place to bury him after they had settled down.
Seeing the patients getting better day by day, not only the doctors cried with joy, but even the soldiers guarding the town entrance were a little excited.
Even so, the victims and the doctors did not dare to relax. They covered their mouths and noses every day, washed their hands and took a bath frequently with boiled water, soaked their clothes in boiling water every day, and even the gifts the victims carried with them were boiled in boiling water every day.
After half a month, all the diarrhea cases were cured except for the old man who died.
When the county magistrate learned about this, he was so happy that he cried. He even wanted to kowtow to Miss Xu, because this not only showed that the plague could be controlled in this way, but also that if there was a plague in the future, even if it was another plague that was more difficult to cure, at least these methods could be used to prevent more people from contracting the disease, so that the entire village, town, and city would not have to wait to die, and there was still a possibility of survival.
The sick were cured, and the woods where they lived were sprinkled with strong liquor and burned.
Now that the victims have recovered, Xu Qinyu asked the county magistrate to distribute the remaining food to the victims so that they can cook their own food.
Now that the diarrhea has healed, the county magistrate still cannot easily arrange where the victims should go. He can only let them live outside the town temporarily. Because they have had diarrhea, they need to tell the prefect, so the county magistrate specially wrote a letter and sent it to the prefect's mansion in Raozhou City at full speed.
The governor of Raozhou City was already fifty years old, with some white hair in his hair, but his complexion was rosy and his body was still strong.
The prefect's surname was Zhu and his given name was Wen Yi. Half a month ago, he received a letter from the county magistrate of Yuanbao Town, in which he learned that there were disaster victims from Yuanbao Town, and even diarrhea among the victims. Prefect Zhu also took it very seriously.
Plague was a major event, and even if he had the decision-making power, he still needed to submit a memorial to the court, so he wrote a memorial and prepared to have it delivered to the capital as quickly as possible.
But at the last minute, Prefect Zhu calculated that it would take two or three days to rush from Raozhou City to the capital, and another two or three days to wait for the court to deliver the letter to him, so the round trip would only take six days. The county magistrate told him in the letter that diarrhea could be cured in about half a month as long as the source of infection was prevented and the doctor treated it.
Governor Zhu knew exactly what the secret letter sent by the court would be, which would ask him to kill all the victims in one go and completely eliminate the source of the plague.
Governor Zhu stayed up all night and thought for a long time. He decided to trust the county magistrate of Yuanbao Town. Magistrate Yang was a good official who cared about the people. He was given a chance to see if he could cure the diarrhea among the victims. If he could, this protective method would be a great act of kindness for the people, and would also enable them to better deal with the source of the plague in the future.
Therefore, the memorial from Governor Zhu was sent to the capital five days ago, so that he could have time to recover from his illness.
Before the secret letter from the capital arrived, Governor Zhu received a letter from Magistrate Yang, which was delivered by Xu Kongmu. The letter said that the victims had recovered. After taking those preventive measures, only 27 of the 113 victims contracted diarrhea, and none of the others were infected. After half a month of treatment, only one seriously ill diarrhea patient died, and the rest all recovered.
After reading the letter, Zhu Taishou said "good" three times in a row, his expression very excited. He also asked Xu Kongmu, "Who came up with this method of covering the mouth and nose, washing hands with strong liquor, and washing hands frequently after eating cooked food?"
Xu Kongmu had already heard what the county magistrate had said. Even if he knew it was Miss Xu's suggestion, he would only say, "It was Lord Yang. He had accidentally seen it in a travelogue before. I don't know the details."
Zhu Taishou smiled and said, "Lord Yang is a good official who cares about the people. When the court learns of this, he will surely be rewarded handsomely."
In fact, there were disaster victims not only near Yuanbao Town, but also in the other three villages under the jurisdiction of Raozhou City. After receiving the letter from County Magistrate Yang half a month ago, he immediately sent people to the village to diagnose the victims, and it turned out that there were patients with diarrhea. Now the three villages have been completely sealed off, and these methods are being used to treat and prevent the villagers.
However, the disaster victims in Yuanbao Town did not enter the town, so the impact was not great. We only needed to provide treatment to these victims. There were more people in the two villages, so it would definitely take longer.
Now that he saw that the patients in Yuanbao Town were completely cured, Governor Zhu finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had not been eating or drinking well these days, fearing that the diarrhea would spread to the entire southwest if it could not be cured or controlled. Fortunately, the patients in Yuanbao Town brought him hope.
Zhu Taishou told Xu Kongmu, "Go back and tell Lord Yang that these disaster victims can be temporarily housed outside Yuanbao Town. Build them some tarpaulin tents. There's a water source nearby, and if they have enough food, they can stay there for now. We'll discuss this matter again after receiving a letter from the court."
Xu Kongmu nodded in agreement.
After he left, Governor Zhu couldn't help but sigh.
The memorial he submitted to the court also stated the methods that County Magistrate Yang had mentioned to prevent the spread of diarrhea, but he was afraid that the person in the palace would not listen and insisted that he kill all the victims. In fact, he had heard that some time ago, diarrhea had occurred among the victims who went to the capital, and none of those victims survived. They were all killed outside the city by order of the new emperor in the palace.
However, the situation of these disaster victims happened at least a month ago, and these solutions had not yet appeared.
Now that the method has worked, Governor Zhu wrote another memorial to the court and sent it to the capital at full speed. He just hoped that the new emperor would see this method and be more merciful, think more about the people, and be willing to try this method instead of killing all the patients and victims who appeared in various parts of the Dasheng Dynasty.
The next day, the imperial envoy sent by the court came to Raozhou City with a secret letter.
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