Chapter 15 Golden Honey Wheat Brown Crisps
Chop the leaves of bitter barley, sprinkle them into water, and boil them until the barley leaf soup is ready.
The surface of the soup, so pale it barely showed any blue color, was covered with large pieces of wheat leaves, quite large for the size of the flower fairy slave. Even from a distance, the distinctive bitter aroma of the wheat still wafted over.
After being woken up by Ananna, Ananka could hardly believe her ears. The slaves, who couldn't even get wheat leaves to eat, were now having wheat leaf soup to drink?
Despite his deep suspicion, Ananka flew out with Anana without hesitation—what if it was true!
Ananka's eyes widened in surprise as she caught a whiff of bitter wheat from afar—it was real!
The former tax collector of the Land of Sin, now a clerk, a large, flower fairy nobleman with only short purple hair due to old age, stood sternly before a large wooden bowl. He said in a deep voice:
"The noble and benevolent Flower Fairy has taken pity on you and has therefore bestowed food upon you. From this day forward, you sinful, lowly, and filthy slaves will receive a bowl of barley soup every day. By the Flower Goddess, you must remember the Flower Fairy's kindness!"
After speaking with a displeased expression, he stepped aside, flew to the side, and gestured to the two flower fairy servants guarding the wooden bowls to distribute barley soup to the slaves.
A large wooden bowl, as tall as the official, was filled with light blue barley soup. Wisps of steam rose from the bowl, and the rich, bitter aroma of the barley slowly permeated the air around each of the flower fairy slaves.
Ananka couldn't help but swallow.
Although it's bitter and astringent, that's the smell of food!
Ananna had already rushed forward first, and the little flower fairy shouted, "Thank you for your kindness, Flower Fairy!"
Slaves who don't even have clothes naturally wouldn't have their own bowls, but the kind and great Flower Fairy has already considered this—
Ananka, who had hurriedly caught up, saw the flower fairy servant take out a small bowl, fill it with barley leaf soup, and hand it to Ananka. Although it was called a small bowl, it was almost as tall as the flower fairy slaves! The bowl of barley leaf soup was so full that there were even two plump pieces of barley leaf in it!
All the flower fairy slaves were given a bowl of wheatgrass soup.
As Ananka took the bowl, he couldn't help but glance at the servant serving the soup. He remembered that only the flower fairies who entered the Flower Castle were allowed to eat the bitter wheat leaves. Now that the bitter wheat leaves were being used to make soup for these slaves, did these servants get better food?
Noticing Ananka's gaze, the servants of Flower Castle proudly and smugly raised their heads—so what if these slaves can drink barley broth? They've been drinking bitter barley broth!
Ananka glanced enviously at the tall, large servant, then hugged the bowl, flew to Anana's side, and landed on the ground with her, where they began to drink their soup.
The clean soup moistened his parched lips, tongue and throat, and nourished his exhausted internal organs. Mingming sipped the soup with great care, but the large bowl of wheat leaf soup was quickly emptied.
Ananka, who had saved the broken wheat leaves for last, opened his mouth and took a bite. He chewed slowly, savoring the intensely bitter taste that stimulated his long-numbed mouth.
Bitter, so bitter, it was really too bitter, but compared to the coarse, tasteless, hard, and dry clods of earth and gravel, this bitter wheat husk was so soft and so juicy. Ananka felt as if she were tasting the clouds in the sky.
The subtle yet undeniably present magic contained in the soup and broken wheat leaves was slowly seeping into the flower fairy's body. The lowly and insignificant flower fairy slave vaguely sensed this, but not clearly. After finishing the wheat leaf soup and eating the broken wheat leaves, he touched his stomach and felt that he was still not full.
But being able to eat normal food, instead of having to gnaw on dirt and bite stones to fill her stomach, already made Ananka very content.
Holding up the spotless wooden bowl, Ananka and Ananna, along with the other flower fairy slaves, flew to find the servants who had distributed the wheatgrass soup, only to discover that they had already left and seemed to have no intention of taking the bowl back.
When the official mentioned that they would receive a bowl of barley porridge every day, the slaves looked at each other, and their dull, gray eyes seemed to brighten considerably.
Inside the Flower Castle, Shu Xin was standing by the window, watching the flower fairy slaves disperse with their wooden bowls in the distance, and she smiled.
With a soft exhale, Shu Xin turned and went to find Peng Peng An.
From the flower fairy servant, Shu Xin learned that Peng Peng An and Nuo Nuo Li were both in the second-floor reception room. When Shu Xin went down to the second floor, she heard the dutiful tax official questioning Nuo Nuo Li about the past tax revenue of the land of sin.
The old flower fairy answered calmly and frankly, "The magic tax in the Land of Sin has always been zero."
Peng Peng'an stared blankly, mouth agape: "Huh?"
Before Pengpengan could press for further questions, Nonoli added, "And no patrol envoy has ever come to the Land of Sin to hold anyone accountable."
Peng Peng'an's mouth gaped open even wider: "Huh??"
Shu Xin walked over with a smile: "The Land of Sin is a special case after all. Let's discuss the magic tax issue later. Peng Peng An, I came to ask you, do you know what the flower fairies mainly eat in the outer territories?"
She explained, "Previously, only bitter wheat could be grown, but the magical environment of the Sinful Lands has improved a lot now. I think we can try some other crops. Of course, not now, but I think we can start preparing now."
Pengpengan closed his wide-open mouth and began to think:
“Your Highness, from what I understand, in order to better collect magic tax, they mainly grow sweet wheat. Our previous territory grew the best type of sweet wheat, golden honey wheat; two of the three neighboring territories also grew soft wheat, which is a second-grade brown honey wheat. The other territory is too far from the Garnar River, so they grow hard wheat, which doesn't require frequent watering, also known as brown crisp wheat; the best hard wheat is golden crisp wheat, which can only be grown in royal territories.”
In other words, the wheat here is divided into sweet wheat and bitter wheat; sweet wheat has better palatability and more magic, so if you want to grow it, you will grow sweet wheat. Sweet wheat is further divided into soft wheat and hard wheat. Soft wheat is called "x honey wheat" and hard wheat is called "x crisp wheat".
Shu Xin nodded: "Okay, I understand. Can we buy this kind of brown crisp that doesn't need much water?"
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