"Master, should we send someone to find Ah San and the others?" the butler asked.
The head of the Zhong family looked at his silent advisor and asked, "Mr. He, what do you think?"
Mr. He stroked his mustache, thinking to himself, Ah San is a highly valued hand of the master, with outstanding abilities and unwavering loyalty.
After pondering for a moment, he said, "Let's search. This matter is strange. We need to send someone to find out what's going on at Longtan."
What Mr. He said was the same as what he was thinking. The head of the Zhong family said, "Steward, send out more people."
They never expected that Longtan would detain people, including those they sent out this time, who also never returned.
After arranging for the people to leave, the head of the Zhong family looked at the numbers in the ledger and felt a tightness in his chest. He slammed his hand on the table.
"The Yu family is simply going too far."
"Not only is the price of grain 10% lower than last year, but they also aggressively bought 30% more new grain."
The butler tried to suggest, “Master, why don’t we just say that the grain production is low this year and we’ll give them less? They won’t actually go to the fields to check.”
“That’s not a good idea. Judging from the Yu family’s tough stance, the Nanzhou Prefecture must be planning something big. If we don’t give it to them, the Yu family will have to cut the amount of salt they sell to us in half,” Mr. He said.
The Zhong family head sighed, "If we halve the amount, it will only be enough for half the population of Huaizhou City. Give it to them; we can't afford to offend the Yu family."
The steward said, "I'll have the farmers pay 10% more grain this year, and next spring when we start spring planting, I'll have them clear more land and plant more beans and corn so we can eat a mix and still have enough to eat."
"I'm afraid this will provoke discontent among the tenant farmers." Mr. He frowned slightly. If all the tenant farmers unite in rebellion, it will be a troublesome matter.
Butler: "With years of war outside, how can they possibly leave with their families?"
Mr. He strongly disagreed with this approach, as it would alienate the people.
The head of the Zhong family, being wealthy and powerful, made the final decision: "Alright! Let's do it this way. Whoever wants to leave can leave. There are so many refugees coming down from the north; there's no need to worry about the fields being left uncultivated."
Mr. He was a kind-hearted man and had no way to refute the Zhong family's actions.
After the meeting, as he was leaving the Zhong family home, he was stopped by the housekeeper.
“Mr. He, the master was forced to do this. I hope you can stand on the Zhong family’s side and offer him some advice.”
In this cannibalistic world, how easy is it for ordinary people to get a full meal?
Mr. He shook his head. "Butler, you're exaggerating. You should know whose job you're holding onto."
After saying that, he turned and left, and the butler stared at his departing figure with icy eyes for a long time.
A remote village under the jurisdiction of Huaizhou City.
The villagers all gathered under a large banyan tree at the entrance of the village.
"What? This year's grain harvest is going to be 10% higher?"
Why do the taxes and grains handed over increase year after year?
A woman helplessly slapped her thigh and began to cry, "Gods, how can anyone live like this!"
"That's right. Let alone rice, nowadays every household can count the grains of rice in the porridge they cook. If it weren't for the wild vegetables and tree roots mixed in, they would have starved to death long ago," the young and strong man said indignantly.
One stone stirs up a thousand waves, and the entire village is shrouded in a sad and depressed atmosphere.
"Pah! I'm not farming anymore, let whoever wants to farm this land do so!" A man spat angrily on the ground.
The woman quickly grabbed the angry man, "Father, where are we going if we don't farm?"
After thinking for a moment, the man said, "Begging in Nanzhou Prefecture is better than farming. My whole family works so hard, and we barely get to eat a few bites of the grain before it all goes to those powerful families. Being a beggar is effortless; I can get two meals a day. It's better than working myself to death."
As soon as he said that, quite a few families in the village had their own ideas and started discussing it.
"Is Nanzhou Prefecture really that good?"
“I heard from merchants in the city that ten Huaizhou cities are not as good as one Nanzhou Prefecture.”
"If that's the case, my family won't farm anymore."
“Yes, let’s not plant anymore, let’s all go to Nanzhou Prefecture.”
As everyone was engaged in a heated discussion, a clear-headed person weakly said, "What about the grain that's almost ripe in the fields? We can't let it benefit others, can we?"
Everyone was taken aback; what he said made perfect sense.
"We must not let others benefit from the grain that we have worked so hard to grow."
"How about we collect the grain before we leave?"
"Yes! Once we've harvested the grain, we'll be on our way!"
So everyone agreed to leave as soon as they finished collecting the grain.
All the young people were determined to leave, while the elderly secretly wiped away tears, their eyes lingering on the low thatched houses behind them.
If they weren't desperate to survive, who would leave the village where their ancestors lived to make a living in a strange and unknown place?
Dragon Pool.
Lin Yinan, along with Lin Chunrong, Yun Ying, and a group of other girls, were inside the newly built factory.
She uses this place to make sauces; Lin Yinan plans to make the simplest fermented black beans.
The harvested soybeans have all been dried, and Lin Huihui and several other girls are picking out the small, shriveled, or broken beans.
The selected beans need to be soaked for three to four hours. Because of the hot weather, the water needs to be changed every now and then to prevent the beans from spoiling.
The soaked soybeans should be put into a large pot and boiled over high heat until the soybeans are fully cooked.
Lin Yinan lived with her maternal grandparents when she was a child. They would make some fermented black beans for themselves every year, so making fermented black beans was not difficult for her at all.
Fermented soybeans are easy to store and transport, and are an indispensable condiment on the dining table.
The group scooped out the cooked soybeans and spread them out on bamboo trays to dry while they were still hot.
Lin Yinan instructed the girls on how to hang the clothes to dry.
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