Just as Lu Chuan was about to say something more, the woman brought over a bowl of noodles.
Lu Chuan looked closely and saw that it was a noodle made of white flour mixed with a little bit of coarse grain flour, and a golden poached egg was nestled on top.
"This, sir, is far too valuable," Lu Chuan said uneasily.
Although Lu Chuan was used to eating white flour at home, it should be noted that not many families could afford to eat white flour in those days. Everyone would replace white flour with coarse grains so that they could eat it for a longer period of time.
"What are you saying? The situation is special right now, and this is all we have to offer our guests. Don't look down on it, and don't feel guilty!" the old man said with a smile.
"Not at all, not at all. Being able to eat a bowl of noodles at this time is already a real luxury," Lu Chuan said.
The two exchanged polite greetings, and Lu Chuan felt particularly uneasy during the meal. He had thought it would just be a simple bowl of wild vegetable porridge, but he didn't expect it to be such a large bowl of noodles.
This bowl of noodles is enough for a family to eat two or three meals of wild vegetable porridge.
However, Lu Chuan quickly finished the bowl of noodles and then took a shower. After all, he couldn't let people's kindness go to waste, otherwise he would really be too ungrateful.
"You and my grandson will share a room tonight. There aren't many rooms available, so please bear with it," the old man said, pulling Lu Chuan aside.
"Not at all, not at all. This is much better than sleeping in the wild and getting bitten by mosquitoes," Lu Chuan said with a smile.
And so, Lu Chuan slept in the same room as the old man's eldest grandson for one night.
A good night's sleep...
The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Lu Chuan announced that he was taking his leave.
"Are you leaving so early? Have breakfast first! There's no rush," the old man said kindly.
"No, old man, the sooner I go to the county town, the sooner I can go home. My wife is waiting for me!" Lu Chuan said.
I got up so early so as not to stay at the old man's house for breakfast. How could I possibly agree to his offer to stay?
If they were to have breakfast, it would be troublesome, not to mention the old man's family would definitely have to think about how to properly entertain Lu Chuan. When there are guests at home, the food can't be bad, which would add a lot more food.
Seeing this, the old man didn't insist on keeping him. He knew his own situation very well; yesterday's bowl of egg noodles was already his limit, so he didn't say anything more.
They simply filled Lu Chuan's bamboo tube with water so that he could have something to drink when he was thirsty.
"This is yesterday's rent, and some homemade beef jerky for the kids to try." Lu Chuan handed the old man fifty coins and the beef jerky Xu Han had given him.
"What are you doing? You can't accept this, you can't accept this! You should leave now!" the old man urged.
After the two declined each other for a while, the old man finally accepted the dried meat after seeing his grandson's mouth watering, but he absolutely refused to take the fifty coins.
Helpless, Lu Chuan had no choice but to give up, and then hurriedly set off for the county town before dawn.
Along the way, I saw many people who started carrying water to irrigate their fields as soon as it was light. Adults were in charge of carrying water, and many children followed along to help.
The little child, holding a water ladle bigger than himself, watered the crops in the field little by little.
It's really heartbreaking to see. At an age when they should be lively and having fun, they have to start helping their families with chores so early just to have a full meal.
This was the scene he had witnessed all along the way, and Lu Chuan couldn't help but feel heartbroken. The drought hadn't even ended for a year yet! This was just the beginning; how were they going to survive the days to come?
My abilities are limited; even if I wanted to help them, I couldn't! The natural disaster has lasted too long, and whether I can survive is uncertain!
As we walked along, we saw that many rivers had exposed their riverbeds. The once wide riverbeds were now only filled with a little water in the middle. If this continued, there would be no water left for irrigation.
We crossed the big river the old man mentioned yesterday, and it was clear that the water level was low; what was once full was now only a quarter full.
As Lu Chuan traveled, he observed that the lives of ordinary people were not easy.
When I returned to the county town, there were even fewer shops that were open.
Lu Chuan first went to Manxianglou, but when he arrived at the door, he found that even Manxianglou was closed and not operating.
This shows how bad the business was. Ordinary people could barely afford to eat, let alone buy things!
Life isn't too bad right now, after all, last autumn was a bumper harvest year, and many families had enough food. With the small harvest from the summer, they can barely make ends meet.
Taxes are only collected once a year here. It's only after the autumn harvest that things really get tough!
After all, some families may not even have enough to pay their taxes this year.
Seeing that no one was in Manxianglou, Lu Chuan went to Manager Li's house. It had been quite a while since he had seen Manager Li, so he should go and visit him.
"Knock knock knock, is Uncle Li home?" Lu Chuan knocked on the door and asked.
"Coming, coming." It was Manager Li who opened the door.
"Oh! It's Brother Lu! Come in quickly. I was just talking about you with my father yesterday! I didn't expect you to come today," Manager Li said with a smile.
"Brother Li, I see that Manxianglou is closed. Has something happened?"
As the two walked into the hall, Lu Chuan asked a question.
"It's alright, it's alright. Business hasn't been good lately, has it? We haven't even made enough to pay our employees' wages, and hardly anyone's come to eat. So we had to close down a few days ago," said Manager Li with a smile.
"Is business really that bad now?" Lu Chuan asked.
"Who says otherwise! Since the summer harvest, the customers who used to come here regularly have stopped coming. Seeing that it still doesn't rain, everyone is trying to save as much as possible. Sometimes we don't even have one table of customers a day, so I just shut it down."
"At least we can save on staff costs. We can reopen after the rain stops and the situation stabilizes! I can also take this opportunity to get some rest," Manager Li said optimistically.
"That's right. The situation is unstable right now, so let's wait and see! It's better to shut it down; it'll save us the trouble."
Lu Chuan had subtly reminded Manager Li before, but he didn't expect Manager Li to be so quick. Lu Chuan thought it would be at least after the autumn harvest!
Just then, a servant brought over tea and snacks. Lu Chuan was thirsty after walking for so long, so he picked up the tea and drank it.
"So it's Lu boy!" A hearty laugh suddenly came from outside the door.
"Hello, Uncle Li, how have you been lately?" Lu Chuan asked, helping Uncle Li to sit down in a chair.
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