Ever since his ancestor appeared in his dream, he has been looking for who is the most important person in the village. After all, the locust plague cannot wait.
But after searching for a long time, he couldn't find anyone who met his requirements and made him take a different look at her.
Looking at his daughter, Xiao'an, he suddenly realized that the noble person the ancestors mentioned might be Xiao Mengyue.
After all, he knew all the villagers. They were all a group of farmers who made a living by digging the land and had low status.
Speaking of people of noble status, the only one is Mengyue who came back from the capital.
Although she had exchanged identities with Xiao Ran since she was young, she had been a rich lady for ten years, and the upbringing and temperament of a wealthy family were ingrained in her bones.
Even if Mengyue and Ran had switched back to their identities, he believed that no matter how hard Ran tried, he could never compare to Mengyue.
What's more, when he brought Wan Niang back to the village from An, although Wan Niang was wearing coarse linen clothes, she exuded a graceful aura that was not something an ordinary person should have.
He thought that Wan Niang's identity was probably not ordinary, and since both An and Wan Niang were good-looking, their child would naturally be good-looking as well.
This is indeed the case. Meng Fei, the eldest son of Meng An, is tall and straight with a well-defined figure. The twins are also good-looking, and Meng Yue is even more beautiful.
After thinking about these questions, the village chief spoke to Mengyue again with a kind of hidden respect.
Due to her past experiences, Mengyue had few opportunities to sit down and talk with people like this. She basically shot them to death and did not notice the change in the village chief's mood.
Fortunately, Mengyue is also a straightforward person. She is really not used to making witty remarks when talking to others.
Also, she wanted to do something and really needed the village chief's help.
So after hearing what the village chief said, he stopped testing the waters and beat around the bush and said solemnly, "Grandpa Village Chief, a few grasshoppers in the fields is normal, but if there are too many, tens of thousands, it will become a disaster."
"Girl Yue, tell me honestly how you knew there would be a locust plague."
Instead of answering the village chief's words, Mengyue blinked her eyes. She must have heard it wrongly. She actually heard the word "locust plague" from the village chief's mouth.
What does this mean? It means that the village chief believes there will be a locust plague, and she doesn't need to find ways to convince him.
"Grandpa Village Chief, to be honest, if you dig down in the village, you can find a lot of insect eggs."
"They haven't hatched yet, but I believe they will start hatching within a month. That will be the rice harvest season, and if a locust plague breaks out, the consequences will be disastrous."
Seeing the village chief's tense face and eyes showing worry about the matter, Mengyue said nothing, waiting for the village chief to slowly digest and accept the fact that there would be a locust plague.
After about a cup of tea, the village chief seemed to have lost all his energy and said pleadingly, "Girl Yue, Grandpa begs you, please save the villagers."
"To be honest, I've discovered this problem, but I'm struggling to find a solution."
"Although our ancestors have passed down methods for catching locusts, they all involve catching, smoking, and burning them. These methods aren't suitable before a locust swarm arrives. They can only be used to remedy an outbreak, and their effectiveness is minimal. After all, locusts are so destructive that they leave nothing behind."
"So I thought, now is the time to see if there is any way to save the situation before the locusts hatch and become a disaster."
Hearing this, Mengyue was filled with respect for the old village chief. Even though she was not from this era, she felt that Xinghua Village was lucky to have such a responsible village chief.
"Grandpa Village Chief, the reason locusts appear and spread across large areas is because of a prolonged drought. But there's nothing we can do about it if it doesn't rain."
"To prevent locust plagues, besides using trenches and burying them, bonfires, and finding and killing insect eggs in the soil, you can also raise chickens, ducks, and birds to kill locusts."
"Actually, there's another one..."
Seeing Mengyue's hesitant look, the village chief felt that the next words might give him a "surprise".
But he was really curious about what method could make Yue hesitate and not say anything.
"Girl Yue, don't worry about anything in front of Grandpa. You can speak freely."
"Grandpa Village Chief, I want to say 㱕 means to eat."
"Eat?" The village chief widened his eyes, unable to believe it.
Seeing the village chief's surprised look, she realized that, as she expected, the village chief's family, like other villagers, had no idea about eating locusts.
But she remembered that in later generations, the people of the Celestial Empire all had the foodie gene, and they could really eat everything.
In the feudal dynasties of history, there was actually an incident where the emperor took the lead in eating locusts.
The Chronicle of Emperor Dezong in the Old Book of Tang has a relevant record: At that time, there was a great famine in Guandong, and taxes were not collected. As a result, the national finances became increasingly tight, and the hungry people in Guanzhong steamed locusts and ate them.
Not long after the Xuanwu Gate Incident, natural disasters occurred throughout the country.
However, the ancients were generally superstitious. Emperor Taizong wanted to consolidate the imperial power and avoid riots among the people to overthrow the imperial power. He was driven from the throne, saying that it was a punishment from heaven and that he was unworthy of the position.
Shimin came up with the idea of eating locusts for show.
As to whether Emperor Taizong of Tang ate locusts, there is no way to verify it, but he did become rich by eating locusts.
However, the Great Zhou Dynasty she was in now was not any dynasty she knew.
Judging from the reactions of the aunties, aunties and the village chief, no one had ever thought of eating locusts.
Although locusts are edible, she herself doesn't want to eat them, after all, she had trained in the primeval forest before.
In order to survive, she had eaten many unknown insects, which made her feel nauseous and vomit, and now she was even reluctant to eat locusts.
Although she didn't want to eat it, the system had never tasted roasted locusts. The villagers could also eat locusts as food to replenish their bodies with protein so that they would not be too weak and unable to withstand the cold winter.
"Grandpa Village Chief, locusts are indeed edible and more nutritious than wild vegetables."
"I also plan to collect locusts in the village, make them into snacks, and sell them in town."
The village chief was shocked to hear that locusts could be eaten.
When he heard about collecting locusts and making snacks, he was so frightened that he couldn't sit still in his chair.
If Mengyue hadn't caught him quickly, the village chief would have fallen and seriously injured his bones.
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