Chapter 251: Pot-Headed
The problems in Luhua Town seem to have been going on for a long time.
Cui Qingyi is not a person who procrastinates. Since she has decided to go to Luhua Town, she immediately makes preparations.
Chen Ma and Man Yue were busy in the kitchen. Because she heard that the master was going to a remote town, Chen Ma was afraid that Cui Qingyi would not have enough to eat when she went out, so she kept the fire on in the kitchen all day long and prepared all kinds of dry food non-stop.
Manyue is now Chen Ma's right-hand man. Chen Ma suffered a lot when she was young, and now that she is a little older, she doesn't have as much strength. She always feels uncomfortable kneading the dough when making noodles. In the end, whenever the family makes noodles, Manyue is responsible for the task of kneading the dough.
The little girl is well-developed, has strong hands, and most importantly, is single-minded in her work, never sparing any effort.
The dough she kneads is always smooth and chewy. Whenever the family eats noodles, the old and the young who are in charge of the kitchen always receive a lot of praise.
Because Luhua Town is quite far from Dongping County, Cui Qingyi was worried that the dry food would not last long, so she thought of a kind of pot cake that she often ate in her previous life.
Guokui is a specialty pastry popular in the northwest region. The slow-baked dough usually has a longer storage time, and the cooking oil and spices added to the dough during production give it a unique flavor.
As soon as Cui Qingyi explained the production method, Chen Ma hurriedly asked someone to get an iron pan specially used for making pot cakes. At this time, Cui Qingyi could begin to appreciate a little bit the benefits of being a village chief.
For example, if ordinary people want to buy an iron pot, it is definitely not possible for them to go to a blacksmith shop to make such a heavy pot. But the people from the village chief's mansion brought a token. When the people from the blacksmith shop saw that it was the village chief and that it was just a pot for making pancakes, they registered and made one for them very quickly.
After carefully preparing the pan, Mother Chen made her first pot of Guokui in her life. The seemingly ordinary pancakes were loved by everyone in the mansion. Cui Qingyi also thought they were very authentic after tasting them.
After preparing the staple food, Mother Chen set up a stove and baked a lot of dried meat in the hot weather. The chili sauce that she had just learned how to make with rice a few days ago was indispensable.
After Cui Qingyi had rested, they went to see her again. The table was piled high with food. If someone didn't know the amount, they would think they were going to flee from famine.
Knowing that the village chief was going to Luhua Town, Jing Wei asked Amu to bring two guards, a man and a woman, over. "Village chief, these are Xiao Ba and Jing Jiu. You don't have any guards who are skilled in martial arts, so let these two stay by your side and serve you from now on."
Jing Wei had mentioned to Cui Qingyi earlier about sending people over. Cui Qingyi simply asked about the two people's situation and kept them. The previous incident in Yao Mansion also taught her a lesson. Having two guards who are good at martial arts by her side can be really useful at critical moments.
Xiao Ba is the female guard. She has no objection to following the village head and protecting her safety in the future. After all, she was trained by the head of the family and placed by the mistress in the future.
Jing Wei has hardly ever used her in all these years. If you ask who among the guards around Jing Wei is most looking forward to having a female master, Xiao Ba would definitely be the first one. After all, without a female master, she would have no place to use her skills.
Moreover, as soon as she arrived in Dongping County, the seniors in the guard team recommended the Township Lord's Mansion to her. In short, Xiao Ba was 100% looking forward to coming to the Township Lord's Mansion and had no objection at all.
While everyone in the village chief's mansion was getting ready to go, Lu Da was not idle either.
Early in the morning, Lu Da puffed on his water pipe and told his youngest grandson, "Shuisheng, go to your uncles' homes and ask them to finish their work and come over to our house."
Lu Da is the absolute head of the family. When he spoke, Shuisheng didn't ask what was going on. He just slurped down the rice soup in a few mouthfuls and ran to his uncles' homes.
Lu Da's eldest son, Lu Daniu, was squatting in the yard sharpening his hoe. Seeing Shuisheng disappear in a flash, he asked in confusion, "Dad, what do you want from these uncles?"
Lu Da took another drag on his cigarette, swishing his lips before saying, "The little we planted this year was destroyed by hail, and there's nothing much to do in the mountains. I figured if it doesn't work out, I'd ask every household in the village to send a strong laborer, and have someone lead a team out to find work far away. At least we can get some food back so the kids don't starve again at the end of the year."
Speaking of this, Lu Daniu's honest face immediately turned as bitter as his father's. He picked up his hoe and asked desperately: "If the court really doesn't care about us anymore, then what about the village chief?"
In the past, their Luhua Town had a hard time. In bad years, the imperial court would always give them some relief. But this year, for no reason, their Luhua Town was given to some village chief as a fiefdom, and the imperial court's relief money was gone.
Lu Da glanced at his son and said, "You've had too many good days. The court is stable now and can provide us with food. If it were not peaceful, we would starve to death in this mountain and no one would care about you."
When Lu Da was young, he had lived a life of eating whatever he could find, stuffing his stomach with everything from tree bark to Guanyin soil. Although his family was still poor these days, with the imperial court behind them, they had never touched those things again.
But as his days were drawing to a close, Lu Da couldn't let go of the younger generation in Luhua Town. He was afraid that if there was any unrest in the imperial court, all of them would be dead.
In the afternoon, when the sun was at its highest, several elderly people in the town came into Lu Da's house.
We were all cousins, so there weren't many rules to follow when we got together. As soon as we entered the room, we started talking at once. "Brother, what's the matter with you calling us here? I was thinking of taking advantage of this opportunity to open up some more wasteland with the younger ones at home."
An old man with a short beard wiped his sweat and said, "Those wastelands are all sandy soil. You can't grow crops even if you open them up."
There are some lazy men in Luhua Town, but most of the people who grow crops are hardworking. They know that the land cannot produce anything, but they always feel that having that little bit of land is better than having nothing at all.
General Lu tapped his pipe twice at his feet and said, "I called you here to ask, given the current situation this year, what are the plans of each household?"
A withered old man huddled in the corner raised his eyelids and muttered softly, "What can we do? Didn't the imperial court give our Luhua Town to that village chief as a fief? Why does she only take our tribute money and doesn't care when we have nothing to eat?
If all else fails, I'd say we should go to that Township Lord's Mansion. If she doesn't care, we won't leave."
Going back more than a decade, they have done this before.
Lu Da raised the pipe to his lips again, with his eyelids drooping and no words spoken.
The old man who had mentioned clearing wasteland smacked his lips and retorted, "Aren't you afraid of being thrown into jail and beaten if you do that?"
The man chuckled and gritted his teeth, "What are you afraid of? Even if I go to jail, I can still have two full meals."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
