The only foods that people usually eat nowadays are millet, sorghum and various beans. No matter how fertile the land of the State of Chen is, it cannot replace millet with rice.
Most of the vegetables they ate were wild vegetables, and if they were passed down to later generations, they could probably only be considered weeds.
Not to mention meat. Whether the soldiers can eat meat depends on whether they can hunt prey or buy poultry that merchants ask farmers to raise. But even if the general is willing to pay for meat for the soldiers, they can't eat it often, and not everyone can eat it.
The only ones who could eat the meat were the general's personal soldiers, and they could only taste a little of the meat.
If we had a bowl of meat soup with millet rice, it would be considered a very luxurious day.
The common people basically had no access to meat, and they seldom raised poultry because they had to spend all their time working in the fields and had no time to take care of the poultry, and no food to raise them.
There is no time or skills to hunt.
If we can’t even afford to raise poultry, it’s even more impossible to raise cattle.
I can't even afford it.
After Chen Hou arrived at the supermarket, the thing he looked forward to most every day was eating at mealtime. He could eat anything and thought everything was delicious. Now Chen Hou has gained more than 30 kilograms compared to when he was first rescued.
Even Chen Yan gained about 20 kilograms.
Chen Hou told Ye Zhou that he couldn't eat meat every day in Linzi. Even if he could, it was rarely fresh meat, but rather tasteless smoked meat or jerky. He had no shortage of salt, but apart from salt, there were basically no other seasonings.
Ye Zhou was also curious and asked what the most delicious dish here was.
Marquis Chen took the example of the Emperor of Zhou. The Emperor of Zhou’s diet consisted of the Eight Delicacies, but these Eight Delicacies were far from what Ye Zhou had imagined.
One of them is pickling, which is to slice the beef and soak it in wine, then take it out and eat it with meat sauce the next day.
This can be considered a "treasure", and it is unique to the Zhou emperor. You can imagine how precious the ingredients are here, and how scarce the food varieties and dishes are.
Moreover, the tripods they used for cooking were made of bronze, and not all craftsmen had good skills, so it was very likely that they would take a bite of the food and then spit out a piece of bronze from their mouths.
In modern times, a little oyster sauce or MSG can provide umami taste, but here, even the Zhou emperor probably never really tasted umami taste, because without spices, they could only taste the earthy and fishy smell when eating fish, without any umami taste at all.
Ye Zhou did not go to distribute food to the villagers. Unless it was necessary, he was no longer willing to go and do anything in person.
Not only is it embarrassing, it's also tiring.
He sat in the tent and ate a self-heating tomato hotpot, accompanied by a self-heating rice, and dined with Chen Hou, who had come uninvited.
Compared to Ye Zhou's elegance, Chen Hou ate as if someone was competing with him for food. He used chopsticks vigorously, his mouth was full of oil, and he would never stop as long as there was room in his stomach.
Maybe because he was in a hurry, Ye Zhou didn't have much appetite and didn't touch the hot pot. He ate the rice with toppings because he didn't want to waste it or let others eat his leftovers.
It’s not that he thought someone would eat his leftovers, but one time when he was having a meal with Chen Hou, he really couldn’t eat anymore. As a result, as soon as he put down his chopsticks, Chen Hou asked him if he didn’t want to eat anymore. If the immortal didn’t want to eat, could he be allowed to eat?
From then on, whenever Ye Zhou ate with Lord Chen, he would finish all the rice in his bowl even if he was full.
Chen Hou even drank up all the soup in the tomato pot. After wiping his mouth with a napkin, he burped with great satisfaction. The burp was so loud that he covered his mouth with his hand shyly, and then whispered, "I've made a fool of myself by letting the immortal see me."
Ye Zhou couldn't bear to watch it any longer: "I will teach you how to make soy sauce and chicken essence, but it's up to you whether you can gather enough ingredients for the chicken essence."
Chicken essence can be made from chicken. Ye Zhou can find information about it, but he is not sure whether this purely handmade chicken essence can compare with industrially produced chicken essence, but it is definitely much better than just salt.
"I'll also tell you how to make tofu." Ye Zhou said, "Tofu is easy to make, and the ingredients are simple."
There are no other disadvantages except that it is tiring.
Lord Chen sighed, "Really, really, before coming here, I had no idea there were such delicacies in the world!"
Ye Zhou advised: "Lord Chen, you should eat less. I'm afraid no one will recognize you when you get to Linzi."
Chen Hou has gained weight and his face has become very ugly. His body looks fine, but his face has become round like a ball and his eyes have been squeezed smaller.
If Ye Zhou didn't see him every day, he would probably think that he had become a different person.
Chen Hou sighed again: "I can't compare to the immortals in terms of concentration."
"The immortal must have tasted all the delicacies in the world. In the past, he had never even eaten sugar."
There were no beets at that time, and the State of Chen did not produce sugarcane. The uncultivated fruits were sour and inedible. All their sweetness came from honey, but no one kept bees, so whether they could taste the sweetness depended entirely on luck.
Even if someone found a beehive and collected the bees, there would be a bunch of royal nobles fighting for them, and it would be even more difficult for the king to eat them.
So now Chen Hou loves everything he eats.
He loves vegetables and rice, and he also loves all kinds of sweet desserts.
Anyway, if Ye Zhou couldn't finish any sweets, as long as he gave them to Chen Hou, he would eat them all.
Now Chen Hou’s favorite is White Rabbit Milk Candy. He even got a purse and always has White Rabbit Milk Candy in it.
I eat it wherever I go, and always take a few before going to bed.
After knowing the daily life of Lord Chen, Ye Zhou felt that he would rather be an ordinary citizen in modern times than be a king here. He couldn't even eat sugar, and the only seasoning was salt. To modern people who could even order fancy takeout, the king was probably not much different from a savage.
The king lived like a "savage", let alone the common people.
·
Chen Shu put her hands on her hips and shouted, "Line up! Line up!"
In front of her were the villagers who brought from their homes pottery bowls, pots, wooden barrels, rattan frames and anything else that could be used to store food.
Almost all the villagers, young and old, went out together. Even the children who had just learned to walk were holding a bowl with a broken hole. They didn't know what queuing meant. They just kept crowding forward, looking eagerly at the "food" placed on the open space.
They didn't know what the food was, but they could smell the aroma of rice and knew that it was good stuff that could fill their stomachs, so they squeezed forward like crazy.
Chen Shu's throat was almost hoarse from yelling, and he didn't see them maintaining order, so he could only call the village chief to his side and said in a hoarse voice: "Tell them to be honest and line up in a long line, just like a march."
“Otherwise, the food will not be distributed.”
The last sentence frightened the old village chief so much that his face turned pale. He quickly called his sons to help maintain order.
Fortunately, the old village chief's words were still useful - his several strong sons were also useful, and the villagers finally started to line up after the old village chief's warning.
Chen Shu took a sip of water and began to distribute food to the villagers with Cao'er's mother and others.
The sweet potatoes and potatoes were packed in snakeskin bags. Although the villagers brought containers, Chen Shu felt that opening the snakeskin bags and distributing them was like taking off pants to fart, so he asked the villagers to come and collect the food in family units.
Chen Shu has a good memory. She can memorize quickly and only remember the person with the most obvious characteristics in each family in case they come back to claim it after claiming it.
The old woman was at the end of the line. She had three children, the largest number of children in the village.
Although people are giving birth to more and more children, too few survive. In order to allow more children to survive, they must continue to have children.
Many villagers may have seven or eight children, but only one survives.
Children are too fragile. They may die from food poisoning, colds and fever, or from their parents' lack of care.
So even though people are having more and more children, the population is not increasing.
On the contrary, the village's population has been declining.
The old woman was holding the youngest child in her arms, and the two older children were holding a bowl each, staring at the snakeskin bag behind Chen Shu and the rice that leaked out of the bag during the transportation.
Some children would break free from their parents' hands and arms and run behind Chen Shu to pick up rice grains on the ground. They would not even wipe them with their hands and would just put them into their mouths. Chen Shu would not even know whether they had chewed them or not.
Chen Shu quickly stopped the children - who knew if there were parasites or other dirty things in the soil, and the children were just going to eat it?
Chen Shu called the village chief over again and said, "From now on, when you drink water, don't drink well water directly. Boil it before drinking."
She didn't explain the scientific reasoning, but only used words that the village chief could understand: "There is a curse cast by ghosts in the water. If people drink it directly, they will definitely have diarrhea and abdominal pain, and even worms will grow in their stomachs. Only by burning it with fire and boiling it can the curse be dispelled."
"Do the children here often suffer from diarrhea? Do they die after having a fever?" Chen Shu asked.
The village chief nodded immediately and said quickly, "Yes, yes, sir, that's right!"
Chen Shu: "That's drinking unclean raw water. Also, wash your hands before eating. There are bugs and their eggs in the soil. If you eat the eggs, they will hatch in your body. By then, your flesh and blood will be full of bugs."
The village chief's eyes widened in fear. Chen Shu said, "I just can't bear to see you suffer. I don't care whether you believe it or not. Just tell them when the time comes. It's their business whether they listen or not."
"Don't worry, sir. I will keep an eye on them and not let them drink raw water. They must boil it before drinking." The village chief asked cautiously, "But boiled water is too hot..."
Chen Shu: "...Won't it get cold if you leave it for a while?"
The village chief's voice became increasingly quiet: "It has cooled down, so how is it different from raw water?"
Chen Shu: “…”
She said so much, but in the end the village chief thought that hot water was drinkable and cold water was raw water.
Chen Shu took a deep breath: "It has nothing to do with hot or cold, only boiled water can be drunk."
The village chief finally understood: "Thank you very much, sir."
He did not doubt that Chen Shu was talking nonsense. They would never leave the village in their entire lives. All they would see were the nearby mountains, rivers and fields. Their understanding of the noble families was only in their imagination. They truly believed that the noble families were not the same as them.
They are born humble, while the nobles are born noble.
Therefore, it is common for noble people to know things that they don’t know.
Chen Shu patted the old village chief on the shoulder. Seeing that he was still busy with his gray hair, he praised: "How old is the old man this year? It's not easy for him to do everything himself at such an old age."
The old village chief said quickly: "I am now forty-two years old."
Chen Shu was confused. Is forty considered old here? People age too fast, right?!
The old village chief was a little proud: "Among the nearby villages, I am the oldest. Although I am forty-two years old, my arms and legs are still strong."
Chen Shushu let out a sigh of relief: "It's not easy for you either."
The old village chief nodded repeatedly: "That's right, that's right! Life is not easy nowadays!"
"It would be great if we could harvest less grain every year!" The old village chief frowned. "No matter how good our land is, we can't plant seeds today and harvest tomorrow. Grain is harvested twice a year, and the grain collector comes three times. How can there be any grain left?"
He said cautiously: "If you have a way to meet the masters above, you can also tell them about our difficulties."
Chen Shu: "Don't worry!"
How much land do the nobles have and how much do the common people have?
Most of a country's wealth is in the hands of the nobles, and the common people are extremely poor.
But when people from other countries came to ask for food, Marquis Chen could only ask the common people. He did ask the nobles and the royal family for food, but they all cried poor, so he couldn't force them. If he did, he would have to fight.
The old woman finally got to the front of the line. She still hid behind her husband. She didn't dare to see people from outside the village. Even though the person who distributed food to her was an old woman, she was still terrified.
She shrank her neck and could only carry the food on her back after the people distributing it handed it to her.
Aunt Li handed the snakeskin bag to the old man. She glanced at the woman hiding behind the old man and couldn't help but said, "Don't be so scared. We are here to deliver food, not to eat people."
But as soon as she finished her words, the old woman suddenly knelt down in front of her.
Aunt Li was so frightened that she took a step back - she was always the one kneeling to others, why would anyone kneel to her?
The old woman cried out, "My lord, my lord, I am not, I am not..."
Aunt Li quickly realized something and said, "I didn't say anything to you. Get up and I'll give you food. Don't worry, it's no less than what others get."
After she finished speaking, she stopped talking and silently moved another bag of food over.
She was also a commoner, and she knew that what commoners feared most was the nobles. No one knew what they would say to offend the nobles, and what the nobles would do to them.
The nobles are human beings, they are not.
The old man knelt down when his wife knelt down, until they realized that the person who distributed the grain did not drive them away or withhold grain from them. Only then did they support each other to stand up, and left with the grain they had received, expressing their gratitude profusely.
They were so thin, but they could carry such heavy food. Even the three children dragged a bag of food back home.
Aunt Li looked at their receding backs, not knowing what to feel. She turned her head and wiped her eyes with her hands.
Cao'er, who was in charge of carrying the things, knew from her mother's expression that she was crying.
She felt it was a little strange - in her memory, her mother was a quiet person, but rather a fierce one. If anyone dared to snatch water from their family, her mother would run to the other person's door and scold them all day long.
As long as her mother is around, she doesn't have to worry about anything.
Her mother never had sympathy for others. She remembered her mother once said that it was not enough to feel sorry for herself, so how could she feel sorry for others?
But now, my mother feels sorry for others.
Cao'er felt her chest swell up and her eyes felt a little sore.
·
The old woman had never felt so strong before! There were still tears on her face, but her hands and feet were extremely nimble. She didn't feel the food on her back was heavy at all! There was more in the vacant land! Their family got a lot, and they had to move it twice more before they could take it back home.
She was afraid that someone else would take her food away.
"Dad, hurry up!" She only carried one sack, while the old man carried two.
The old man's face flushed, and he almost bit his tongue when he spoke. His cloudy eyes shone: "I'll hurry up, hurry up!"
They carried the food back home, and as soon as they put it down, they ran to the open space without stopping.
After repeating this three times, they finally brought all the food back home.
The old woman carried back the last bag of food and finally sat down on the ground - only then did she feel tired and her waist hurt, but compared to the pain in her body, her spirit was particularly excited.
"Open it, open it quickly and take a look!" The old woman supported herself on the ground and stood up. She bent down and opened the seal of the snakeskin bag.
The moment she opened it, the fragrance of rice hit her face and the old woman almost drowned in the aroma of grain.
Their small mud house was filled with the aroma of rice.
The children immediately burst into howling, "Hungry! Mom, hungry!"
The old woman looked at her husband, the old man: "Eat! Cook! Let's have a full meal for once!"
They started cooking immediately. They couldn't afford a tripod, so they could only cook in a clay pot. The pot had a hole in it a long time ago, but they had no money to buy a new one, so they could only use this broken pot.
The old woman added some water to the clay pot and put the rice in without washing it.
"It doesn't look like the rice we usually eat." The old woman held a handful of white rice in her hand and said in disbelief, "Where can I get rice this white? And this big!"
The old man whispered, "It's definitely not from our Chen State."
Although the old woman didn't know what was happening outside, she had heard from her elders since she was a child that the land in their Chen State was the best and the crops grown there were the best. The crops of other countries could not compare to theirs, so those countries always asked them for food.
"My parents said that the food in our Chen country is the best." The old woman was a little stubborn, "Other countries don't have such good food."
The good grain production of the State of Chen was the only thing to be proud of for the common people who made a living by farming.
The old woman pointed to the other two opened snakeskin bags and said, "We have never seen those two before!"
The old woman whispered, "They are definitely not from other countries, nor are they from our Chen country. Maybe they are masters!"
The old man was a little confused: "What master?"
The old woman stamped her feet and said, "A hermit! The kind that lives in the deep mountains and forests."
The old man still didn't understand, but he didn't refute his wife's words. He just smiled and said, "Whatever you say, that's it."
"As long as the grain official doesn't come, this amount of grain is enough for us to eat." The old man smelled the fragrance of the cooking rice and said intoxicatedly, "If this kind of rice is used to make wine, it will definitely make good wine."
The old woman said: "Only the nobles can afford to drink wine. How can they waste food like that? Food that can fill your stomach can be turned into wine and then be gone in a pee."
The children gradually stopped crying. They didn’t have that many tears, and when they were tired of crying, they would snuggle into their parents’ arms. The whole family sat together, waiting for the rice to cook.
After an unknown amount of time, the old woman went to the stove and took a look, and found that the rice had already been cooked.
This is definitely edible.
She said to her husband, "Go and get the bowl."
Their houses have no chimneys, and the stoves are all set up outside the houses, with only a shed built to keep out rain and snow. In winter, the shed is also used to store firewood.
They held bowls, each filled with white porridge.
As the old woman walked into the house, she looked around and saw that her neighbors were cooking just like them.
They haven't had a full meal for a long, long time.
"It's a pity there are no side dishes." They returned to the house, knelt down around the wooden table, and placed the bowls on the table.
They put a lot of rice in it, so even though it's porridge, it's not much different from rice.
The old woman smiled and said, "Why would we need side dishes when we have porridge? We don't have any salt at home now."
The old man sighed and said, "Salt is expensive."
They couldn't afford it, and even if they wanted to buy it, they would buy the worst quality salt, which was called salt but was actually saline soil. They boiled it in water, let it settle overnight, poured out the water on top, and discarded the soil underneath. When the water dried up, there would be a little bit of salt.
But it tastes bitter, but they have never eaten good salt and don’t know what real salt should taste like.
"Just eat it like this!" The old woman laughed at her husband, "We didn't even have porridge yesterday, why didn't you complain about not having side dishes?"
The old man said, "That's just what I said. Why do you really need side dishes? After I finish eating, I will go for a walk in the mountains. I won't go too deep. I'll see if I can find some vegetables. I'll bring them back and dry them. They'll last longer."
Old man: "I still have to chop wood."
The old woman nodded: "Then I will pack some food and send it back to my parents' home."
The old man said: "As it should be. My father-in-law and mother-in-law have lent us a lot of food before."
They have been able to hold on until now, not only because of the kindness of the village chief, but also because the old woman has a family with many laborers. Although they live in poverty and hardship, they can still squeeze out some food to support them. Otherwise, it would be impossible for the two of them to raise three children to such an age.
"Mom, eat." The eldest son held the bowl and used a wooden spoon to dig porridge into his mouth, but the porridge was too hot, and it made his facial features wrinkled. But he couldn't bear to spit out the porridge in his mouth, so he held it in until tears welled up in his eyes, and then he opened his mouth to show his mother, "Mom, it's hot."
The old woman looked over and found that her eldest son had two blisters in his mouth. She said helplessly, "We don't have a needle at home. When you finish eating, ask your father to cut a wooden stick and prick the blisters."
The eldest son nodded. He looked at the bowl of porridge, wanting to eat it but not daring to.
The old woman then picked it up. She didn't eat it herself. Instead, she blew on the porridge to cool it down and fed it to the child.
The old man also put down the bowl in his hand and followed his wife's example to feed the children.
The couple were hungry and tired at the moment, but they had smiles on their faces, and their red faces were covered with sweat.
The children ate their meal mouthful by mouthful, with their eyes wide open, enjoying the first full meal with the aroma of rice in their lives.
There's smoke rising outside and the house is filled with the aroma of rice.
What a good day.
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