"Alright, I certainly won't stand on ceremony with Brother Li."
The group was chatting when the waiter, who had just gone to deliver the message, returned with good news.
"Manager, all the restaurants I visited have booked banquets for lunch today. Our business is sure to be booming!" the waiter said excitedly.
Upon seeing this, Lu Chuan quickly offered to take his leave. Manager Li invited the two to stay for lunch, but Lu Chuan said he had other things to attend to and left first.
After leaving Manxianglou, Lu Chuan and Xu Han went straight to the blacksmith shop. They didn't know if the blacksmith shop was closed.
When we arrived at the blacksmith's shop, the owner was sweating profusely as he forged iron.
It has to be said that blacksmithing is really hard work. It's not so bad in winter because it's warm, but in this hot weather, blacksmithing is really tough.
When the blacksmith saw people come in, he quickly stopped, wiped the sweat from his face with the handkerchief around his neck, and asked, "What would you two like to order?"
"Boss, do you sell kitchen knives?" Lu Chuan asked.
"Yes, yes, let me show you." With that, he went into the room and soon came out with several different kitchen knives.
After picking out two, Lu Chuan asked, "Do you have any sickles, hoes, or anything like that? The summer harvest is coming soon, and the tools at home aren't very good anymore. I'd like to get some new ones."
"Yes, it's almost summer harvest time now, and we have tools that have been made in advance. In previous years, we had to order them in advance, but this year the harvest is bad and very few people are buying farm tools."
After saying that, he led the two people into the tool room to start selecting tools.
Lu Chuan selected four sickles, two hoes, two shovels, two claws, and some other small farm tools that he would use daily.
After selecting the farm tools, he also grabbed two machetes to pay for them at the same time.
The blacksmith was overjoyed to see Lu Chuan buy so many things at once; these items were enough for a month's supply in this year.
Ironware is still quite expensive in today's society, and most families simply can't afford to buy so much ironware at once.
Fortunately, although the imperial court had controls over iron products, as long as the purchases were agricultural tools and daily necessities and did not exceed a certain weight, they only needed to be registered.
When Lu Chuan bought these things, he selected only the maximum amount he could afford. Seeing that the two of them bought a lot, the shopkeeper took the initiative to lower the price a little.
"Young man, the harvest is different now, so this is all I can offer in terms of price reduction. When the harvest is better, I'll definitely give you a discount."
"Okay, then let's go with the price you said!" Lu Chuan readily took out his money to pay the bill.
Before leaving, the blacksmith gave Xu Han a small shovel, which would be perfect for digging wild vegetables.
After leaving the blacksmith's shop, the two went to the carpenter's shop, bought six large bathtubs, and then headed straight for the pharmacy.
There were no patients in the pharmacy, and the pharmacy clerk was dozing off!
Upon seeing that it was Lu Chuan and Xu Han who came in, they hurriedly went to the backyard to call the shopkeeper.
"Uncle Zhang, how have you been lately?" Lu Chuan asked.
"We're fine. How about you two? Do you have enough food?" Uncle Zhang asked as he led the two into the inner hall.
"That's enough, Uncle Zhang, don't worry about us."
"Oh dear God! When will it finally rain? The summer harvest is just around the corner, and many farmers are fighting over water. You just saw off a group of injured people from the fight before you arrived."
"Fighting? Has it gotten that serious down the mountain?" Xu Han asked, feigning surprise.
"Who says otherwise! The magistrate has already implemented a new policy to prevent farmers from fighting over water resources, but people still fight over them."
"The summer harvest is approaching, and everyone wants to irrigate their fields well so they can harvest more grain," Lu Chuan said.
"I heard that some small rivers have dried up, making irrigation a real problem. This summer harvest will definitely be much less than expected. Whether there will be any harvest at all is another matter!"
"What about other places? Is the situation this serious?" Xu Han asked.
"Most places are doing alright, and there haven't been any problems with the riverbeds drying up yet, but if things continue like this, it's unlikely they'll make it through the autumn harvest."
"Yes! The sun is so strong now, and if it doesn't rain at all, the river will definitely dry up soon. Then even drinking water will become a problem," Lu Chuan sighed.
"What can we do? We can only hope that it will rain soon! If we don't get a good harvest, things will probably get chaotic."
“Yes! At that time, even drinking water will be a problem. Even if there is food, it won’t work without water!” Xu Han sighed.
"Are you all alright? There shouldn't be a shortage of water in the mountains, right?" Uncle Zhang asked.
"The situation in the mountains is better than outside, but the water level has dropped significantly. However, there is relatively more water in the deep mountains, so we shouldn't have too much trouble in the near future."
"That's good, that's good," Uncle Zhang said with a smile.
"Uncle Zhang, we came today to buy more saltpeter. How much can you spare?" Lu Chuan asked, changing the subject.
"There's still plenty of saltpeter; I'll take you to get some."
The two followed Uncle Zhang to the front hall, retrieved the saltpeter, and left the clinic, beginning their journey home.
The drought has only just begun, and people are already fighting over water. I wonder what kind of hell it will be like in the next few years.
When Lu Chuan and Xu Han arrived home, it was already getting dark.
Because the river they usually traveled by boat had become much shallower, and the two were afraid of being discovered, they walked upstream for a while before taking the boat home.
This round trip took up a lot of time, but fortunately I finally made it home before dark.
After arriving home, having dinner and resting for a while, Lu Chuan and Xu Han began making ice using the newly purchased bathtub.
There wasn't enough room in the bathroom to hold all those bathtubs, so they had no choice but to make them in the main room.
This made the room less hot. With several bathtubs placed in the room and some saltpeter added, the room cooled down considerably in no time.
Fortunately, saltpeter is non-toxic and odorless; otherwise, it really wouldn't be possible to put it in the main room to make ice.
Now the two of them don't need to go outside to cool off in the evenings; they can just move the deck chairs into the main room. And they don't have to go outside to feed the mosquitoes—it's simply wonderful!
As Xu Han fanned herself with a palm leaf fan, she said, "The situation down the mountain isn't too bad yet. The summer harvest is coming soon, but I wonder what the yield will be like?"
“Look at the wheat we planted. We’ve been watering it constantly, so it’s never lacked water. But there are still a lot of empty husks. I’m afraid the harvest down the mountain will be even worse than ours!”
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