In addition to fish and milk, there are also eels, snails and some river shrimps. These are the dishes for the restaurant diners for the day, and there are quite a lot of them. The fish, eels and snails can all be kept first, and some of the fish will be eaten today.
So Xu Qinyu used all the milk that was sent to her to make milk buns, and she cut the fish into pieces and stewed it. She also made a fish soup, mincing 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 scallion segments and water three times and stirred vigorously in one direction. Finally, she steamed it in a pot with hot water for half a minute until it was cooked.
They cannot finish these things in the next two days, nor can they keep them. There are many disaster victims outside, and if they are to recover quickly, they not only need medical treatment, but also nutrition. Both are indispensable. So since they cannot finish these things, they might as well make them in the next few days to provide nutrition for the disaster victims outside the city and the doctors who treat them. It will also help the disaster 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 was cooking, Cheng Ge'er, Xu Feng's four children and the eldest girl were watching from the side. It was obvious that they were willing to learn cooking from Xu Qinyu. Gong Ge'er was not good at it. He couldn't restrain himself. Whether he stood or sat there for a long time, he felt like ants were crawling on his body. Moreover, he seemed to have no talent for cooking, so he didn't force himself and felt happy running errands for the 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 take it outside the town to deliver it to the disaster victims and the doctor. She also carefully instructed Gong Ge'er to tell the county magistrate and that the yamen runners should cover their mouths and noses when serving food to the disaster victims, and let the disaster 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 used after eating must be washed with water and then boiled in hot water. Everything you eat must always be boiled in hot water and clean.
Another thing is that after dinner, I would clean her pots outside the town, boil them in water, and then bring them back to her.
The county magistrate was originally worried about the food for the victims outside the town, but when he saw Mrs. Xu was willing to help, he was extremely grateful and asked Brother Gong to express his thanks to Xu Qinyu.
Xu Qinyu had just finished breakfast when the bailiffs came to her door.
She kept some steamed buns with milk, 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 to the outside of the town.
The yamen runners began to salivate at the smell, thinking that the disaster victims were so lucky to have the breakfast prepared by Miss Xu herself. Normally, they would only come to Xu's for a meal once a month to satisfy their cravings.
But the yamen runners also knew that this was prepared by Miss Xu for the disaster victims, so they dared not eat it and immediately sent it out of the town.
The soldiers guarding the town entrance smelled the fragrance from a distance. They turned around and saw runners from the county government 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 stove cart under a 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 to everyone.
The milk steamed buns that Xu Qinyu made this time were bigger than those sold in restaurants on weekdays. One was as big as two adult's fists, but not the kind that would become soft if pinched and could be stuffed into one mouthful. The milk steamed buns were thick and layered, and a child could be full with just one. However, considering that the disaster 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 steamed buns, and the children each had a bowl of fish soup and two milk steamed buns.
In addition to these disaster 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 smell seems to be from Xu's steamed buns and stewed fish. My wife went to Xu's to buy stewed fish and steamed buns for breakfast. The smell is exactly the same. It smells really good."
Among the 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 meals, and dinner will be delivered to you in the evening. Don't save your food. Remember to finish it. Eating well will help you recover faster. Hurry up and get your rice bowls. The fish nuggets 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 masks distributed to them by the county magistrate, and these masks were soaked in patchouli.
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 cook a lot of patchouli water for the victims to drink, and the rest was soaked on the gauze.
Ordinary people in the city could also buy some Patchouli and boil it in water to drink.
The victims took back their food bowls, swallowed hard, and some could no longer hold back, so they took a bite of the steamed bun, and then their eyes widened.
There were also those children who were as thin as bean sprouts, curled up 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, 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.
The disaster victims were given mostly breakfast consisting of delicate white flour steamed buns. They had never eaten such delicate flour food with a milky aroma while fleeing the famine. They saved it for later, but they couldn't stop eating it, one bite after another. Before they knew it, three steamed buns and a bowl of fish fillets were eaten up cleanly. After finishing, they couldn't help smacking their lips to savor the delicious taste.
Some of the victims who originally wanted to flee even thought that if they could eat the same things 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 some water, boiled it, and washed the dishes thoroughly.
The water they used was also from the well in the town.
The yamen runners also cleaned Xu's wooden basin and iron pot, boiled them in hot water, and sent them back.
Xu Qinyu had also finished breakfast with everyone in the restaurant and was making wine.
The soil on the surface 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 that 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 them 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 without any explanation how much rock sugar should be added to these grapes.
The grapes in the wine jar cannot be filled too full, otherwise they will overflow during the later fermentation, and the mouth of the wine jar cannot be sealed too tightly.
She brewed 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 would not 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 the others go to the mountain to help pick grapes today and make more wine, maybe one or two hundred jars. But they definitely can't go to the mountain now, and it's the same to wait until the disaster victims get better before leaving the city. There are too many wild grapes and no one eats them, so they won't all be ripe in a short time. Some hilltops will ripen more slowly due to insufficient sunshine and rain.
In the evening, Xu Qinyu steamed bean rice with herring, braised the fish head, and boiled the fish bones into thick white fish soup. Not a single fish was wasted. In the fish soup, there was nothing else except a little salt and chopped green onions, because there was no tofu. Tofu was usually bought at noon. Today, no one was setting up a stall, so no dishes were bought. But even this fish soup tasted delicious.
To make herring braised with rice, slice the herring into slices, add shredded ginger, scallions, salt, Huadiao wine, soy sauce and a little five-spice powder and marinate 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 had made pork ribs braised with rice for her family, but she had never made fish fillet braised with rice. The taste was equally good and the fish fillet was tender and fresh.
The bean rice is cooked with soaked beans and rice. The bean grains are distinct and have absorbed the freshness and fat of the fish fillets. It is shiny and fragrant.
I have consumed all the fish today.
The stewed fish heads were sent to the yamen to improve the diet of the yamen runners, while the fish fillet stewed rice and fish bone soup were sent outside the city.
The victims were relieved to see that they were really given a dinner. 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? They would never dream of such a delicious meal even in normal times.
The two doctors who lived in a wooden shed at the entrance of the town were no longer so listless after a day of delicious food. They were full of energy, examining the pulses and making soups for the disaster victims. Even for the victims who had not been infected by the disease, they would be given some patchouli water or other soups to drink.
The next day, Xu Qinyu prepared eel porridge and shrimp porridge for breakfast.
The herring, milk, eels and river shrimps that Uncle He had sent yesterday were all consumed, leaving only some large snails. She asked Cheng Ge'er to lead Xu Feng and the others to smash the snail meat out, clean it, and make salt and pepper snail meat for everyone to satisfy their cravings.
There was no food left in the evening, only some live poultry and eggs.
At noon, Xu Qinyu went to find Tian the butcher, wanting to buy some pork ribs from him. Pork ribs without the meat 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 going to make food for the disaster victims, so he confiscated the money from Miss Xu and said, "Miss Xu is kind-hearted. I don't have much pork bones. Please wait for half an hour. I will go to other butchers to collect some. When I have enough, I will send all the pork bones to Xu's. Miss Xu, please go back and have a rest first."
These shanks were sold cheaply to begin with, so the butchers didn't charge for them.
So the evening meal is pork bone soup noodles with a poached egg and a few amaranths on top, which looks very appetizing.
As summer came, 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, helping to wash, select, 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 his friends cleaned up the restaurant before returning.
When Cheng Ge'er and Gong Ge'er were returning, they met some neighbors. Although everyone stayed at home, they would occasionally open the gate 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, "Brothers, why are you still running around outside?"
The two boys scratched their heads and said, "We just came back from the restaurant. There are still some ingredients in the restaurant. Fourth sister-in-law thought that the disaster victims outside the city might not have food either. She also said that if they eat better, their illness will heal faster. When the disaster victims' diarrhea is cured, the people of Yuanbao Town can resume their lives sooner. So Fourth sister-in-law has been cooking in the restaurant for the disaster victims and doctors outside the city these two days."
When the neighbors heard this, they all looked at each other in bewilderment. Later they thought that Miss Xu was a kind-hearted person, 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 of 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.
The news also spread to several nearby alleys, and everyone donated what they could. Some wealthy families even gave Xu's restaurant some chickens and ducks, or two pounds of meat, some white flour and rice.
Not only that, later even the wealthy businessmen in East Street and West Street and the customers who often ate at Xu's also heard about this. They all felt that Miss Xu was righteous and also sent a lot of food and rice to Xu's.
But this was two or three days away, and Xu Qinyu had no shortage of food, and even had some extra. She planned to give the remaining rice and food to the victims after they recovered, so that at least they would have food to eat and their days would be better.
In the following days, Xu Qinyu came up with even more ways to cook for the disaster victims.
She kept some of the wild mushrooms she picked from the mountain for her family to eat, and the rest were ordinary mushrooms that could not possibly be poisonous. She used them to stew mushroom and 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 a little mushy when stewed with the chicken soup. It was hard to tell what was going on, but the taste was amazing. The chicken soup was rich and delicious, and the chicken was stewed to perfection, not dry at all. The victims were so dazed after eating it 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 for 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 the people in the town were shocked to see that the two doctors outside the town did not contract diarrhea.
In addition, after hearing about the charitable 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 medicines for seriously ill patients.
These patients were placed under a forest. The southwest is not very hot in summer. There is a forest to block the sun and not expose people to the sun. These disaster victims and diarrhea patients just eat and sleep, at least they don't have to worry about anything during this period. In addition, there are more doctors. They take medicine carefully, listen to the county magistrate's words to take precautions, cover their mouths and noses, and wash their hands frequently. So there were about 20 diarrhea patients originally, and there are 7 or 8 more in the past two days. They should have been infected before, but they waited two days before symptoms appeared. The rest are gone.
There were about a hundred victims in this disaster 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 diarrhea like this occurs among disaster victims, it will spread from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred. Almost no one can escape, and they all get diarrhea and die.
The victims knew that they were likely to be saved, so their mentality became better and better. They only thought about food the whole day, and after 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.
However, there were a few patients with diarrhea whose conditions were particularly serious, including the woman who was carried on a man's back when Xu Qinyu first saw her. She was almost in a semi-comatose state, with a deathly look on her face. Her husband also forced food into her mouth, and she basically had only soup to eat every day.
After eating like this for a few days, the woman was more conscious and was able to eat some milk steamed buns, bean rice and other dishes. In addition, there was a ten-year-old girl who was also very ill, but her family had never given up on her 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, wolfing down the food. Her condition gradually improved, which even surprised the doctor.
Others didn't know that such delicious food had aroused their desire to survive. 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 got better, except for one who was too old and couldn't hold on. He drank medicine for several days but it didn't work. He was found dead in the morning. The family members didn't cry or make a fuss. They even thought that their old father could eat such delicious food before he died, which was not a bad life. According to the county magistrate's instructions, they picked up some firewood, burned the old man's body, and put some ashes in a urn, planning to find a place to settle down in the future and bury their old father.
Seeing the patients getting better day by day, not only the doctors cried with joy, but even the soldiers guarding the town entrance were 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, and soaked their clothes in boiling hot water every day. Even the gifts that the victims carried with them were boiled in boiling water every day.
After half a month, except for the old man who did not survive, all the diarrhea diseases were cured.
When the county magistrate learned about this, he cried with joy, and even he wanted to kowtow to Miss Xu, because this not only showed that the plague could be controlled in this way, but also that when encountering 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 people of the entire village, town, and city would not have to wait to die, and there would still be a possibility of survival.
The patients recovered, and the forest where they lived was sprinkled with strong liquor and burned.
Now that the disaster victims have recovered, Xu Qinyu asked the county lord 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 a place for the disaster victims and 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 as soon as possible.
The governor of Raozhou City was already fifty years old, with some grey hair, but his face was ruddy and he was still in good health.
The governor's surname was Zhu and his given name was Wenyi. Half a month ago, he received a letter from the county magistrate of Yuanbao Town, in which he learned that there were disaster victims in Yuanbao Town, and some of them even suffered from diarrhea. Governor Zhu took it very seriously.
Plague was a big deal, and even if he had the power to make decisions, he still needed to submit a memorial to the court, so he wrote a memorial and prepared to have someone send it to the capital as quickly as possible.
But in the end, 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 for the court to deliver a letter to him, so a 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 clearly what the secret letter sent by the court would be, which would tell him to kill all the disaster victims in one go and completely eliminate the source of the plague.
Governor Zhu did not sleep all night and thought for a long time. He decided to contact 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 that would benefit the people and would also enable them to better deal with the source of the plague in the future.
Therefore, Governor Zhu's memorial was sent to the capital five days ago, which bought him time to recover.
Before receiving the secret letter from the capital, 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 out of the 113 victims contracted diarrhea, and none of the others became ill. 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, and his expression was very excited. He also asked Xu Kongmu, "Who came up with this idea of covering the mouth and nose, washing hands with strong liquor, and washing hands frequently after eating cooked food?"
Xu Kongmu had already received the county magistrate's message. Even if he knew that it was Miss Xu who came up with the idea, he would only say, "It was Lord Yang. He accidentally saw it in a travel book before. I don't know the details."
Governor Zhu smiled and said, "Lord Yang is a good official who cares for the people. When the court learns of this, he will surely be rewarded handsomely."
In fact, disaster victims occurred not only near Yuanbao Town, but also in the other three villages under the jurisdiction of Raozhou City. After receiving the letter from Yang County Magistrate half a month ago, he immediately sent people to the villages to diagnose the disaster victims, and indeed there were patients with diarrhea. At this moment, the three villages have been completely sealed off, and these methods are being used to treat and prevent the villagers.
However, the disaster victims from Yuanbao Town did not enter the town, so the impact is not big. We only need to provide treatment to these disaster victims. The two villages have more people, so it will definitely take longer.
Seeing that the patients in Yuanbao Town were completely cured, Governor Zhu finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had not been eating well these days, and he was afraid that if the disease could not be cured and controlled, it would spread to the entire southwest. Fortunately, the patients in Yuanbao Town brought him hope.
Governor Zhu told Xu Kongmu, "Go back and tell Lord Yang that these disaster victims can be temporarily settled outside Yuanbao Town. Build some tarpaulin tents for them. There is also a water source nearby. If they have enough food, they can stay there for the time being and wait for the imperial court to send a letter before discussing it."
Xu Kongmu nodded in agreement.
After he left, Governor Zhu couldn't help but sigh.
He also wrote down the methods mentioned by Yang County Magistrate to prevent the spread of diarrhea in the memorial he submitted to the court, but he was afraid that the one in the palace would not listen and insisted that he kill all the disaster victims. In fact, he had heard that some time ago, diarrhea occurred among the disaster victims who went to the capital, and none of them survived. They were all ordered to be killed outside the city by 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 as soon as possible, hoping 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 disaster victims who appeared in various places in the Great Sheng Dynasty.
The next day, an imperial envoy sent by the court arrived at Raozhou City with a secret letter.