Acai's Sky

Chapter 696: What Does the Heroine's Escape Have to Do with Me?

Outside Jialu County

To the right of the city gate, the wide area was occupied by the Tang family. The Tang family servants busily moved around, arranging various supplies in an orderly manner.

On the left side of the city gate was a scene meticulously arranged by the Tong family. A dozen porridge stalls were lined up, each crowded with refugees who had come to collect food.

At this moment, the servant Mo Zhu was directing the people of the Tong family to unload the grain in an orderly manner.

Heavy bags of grain were unloaded from the carriage and neatly stacked aside.

At the same time, flames were burning under more than a dozen huge eight-seal pots, and the boiling water in the pots was boiling and steaming.

Not far away, Xiao Yi was also busy.

He was carefully arranging for the Tong family's guards to select those who were strong and nimble among the refugees, and asked them to help chop firewood in the Tong family's porridge shed.

The selected refugees showed joy on their faces and rolled up their sleeves to get to work.

Just then, a small donkey cart slowly drove over and stopped next to the porridge shed.

It was Nanny Ying who got off the car.

She looked at everything around her seriously, afraid of missing anything.

Most of the refugees were very well-behaved and consciously lined up in a long queue.

They will first receive a bowl of hot medicine to prevent possible epidemics.

For these displaced people, being able to drink a bowl of medicine like this and fill their hungry stomachs is already a rare good day. How can they have the mind to be picky about anything else?

At this moment, Tang Mingshan and Tong Sanye Tong Yan also appeared around the porridge stall.

Looking at the dense, black crowd in front of him, Tang Mingshan couldn't help but shudder and took a breath.

He subconsciously nudged Tong Yan next to him with his shoulder and said in a low voice, "Oh my god, why are there so many refugees? Didn't the imperial court start promoting high-yield crops a long time ago? Why is it still like this?"

Upon hearing this, Tong Yan glanced at his childhood friend calmly, his lips curled up slightly as he replied sarcastically, "If crops don't have enough water, will they suffer a reduced yield or even a total crop failure? But people are the same as crops. If they lack water, how many days can they survive? How can they survive?"

After hearing this, Tang Mingshan couldn't help but grit his teeth and complained bitterly, "We are not fish. We can survive for several days out of water. With my body, I'm afraid I can't even last a day!"

Tong Yan also nudged Tang Mingshan with his shoulder. "Currently, Jialu County has sufficient water resources. Just wait and see, the number of refugees will only increase."

Tang Mingshan tilted his head slightly, pointing with his chin at the nearby porridge stalls, and said thoughtfully, "Look at you! Your family has set up so many porridge stalls all at once, and they're all making thick rice soup. According to my estimate, you must be using at least several thousand kilograms of rice every day!"

As he spoke, he shook his head slightly, as if he was a little surprised by the huge consumption.

Tong Yan looked in the direction Tang Mingshan pointed, his eyes set on the porridge stalls next to the city gate tower, and then he slowly responded:

"Well, but I heard from the servants that they plan to make sweet potato porridge next. If that's the case, I'm sure the consumption of rice will be relatively reduced."

His tone was calm and composed, as if he had already known about the situation.

At this moment, a young man who looked like a servant, Mo Yu, quickly approached Tang Mingshan and Tong Yan.

He said excitedly, "Third Master, I just heard that Miss Nine is processing a large amount of potato rice! It's said that potatoes make up as much as 70% of the rice!"

When Tang Mingshan heard this, his eyes lit up immediately and he asked eagerly, "Oh? Potato rice? Tell me quickly, how are they processed?"

Mo Yu did not dare to delay, and quickly cleared his throat and told Tang Mingshan in detail the specific method of processing potato rice.

As Mo Yu described, Tang Mingshan became more and more engrossed, sometimes nodding in agreement, sometimes showing a look of sudden enlightenment.

After Mo Yu finished speaking, Tang Mingshan couldn't help but clap his hands vigorously and exclaimed in admiration, "Brilliant! This is truly brilliant! With this method, the rice used for disaster relief will last for a long time!"

His face was full of joy and he was obviously very satisfied with this discovery.

Then, Mo Yu pointed to a big pot below, in which steaming noodles were rolling.

He continued, "Look at the noodles being cooked over there. They're made from a mixture of potato flour and wheat flour, with potato flour making up a full 70%! So, even though it's a big pot full of noodles, the actual amount of black flour used is very small."

Tong Yan stood aside, watching the busy scene in front of him, and was truly in awe of these servants.

In order to save flour and rice, they came up with this idea - to insist on making dumplings and baking pies.

Tang Mingshan approached the chopping board curiously and saw several young, strong and muscular men kneading the dough with all their might.

The dough kept changing shape in their hands, as if it were given life.

Looking over to the side, a few older men, wearing aprons around their waists, were wrapping chive dumplings skillfully and quickly.

Their fingers deftly manipulated the dough and fillings, and soon exquisite chive dumplings appeared before everyone.

At this time, Mo Yu picked up a few freshly cooked chive dumplings from a basket not far away, trotted over to the two uncles, and said enthusiastically, "These chive dumplings are fresh from the pot, steaming hot and delicious! Come and try them, uncles! I guarantee they'll be so delicious that you'll drop your tongue!"

When Tang Mingshan heard the words "leek box", his head shook like a rattle, indicating that he was determined not to eat it.

He frowned and said, "The smell of these leeks is too strong. If I eat them, my mouth will be full of the smell. How can I talk to others?"

Seeing this, Third Master Tong looked at Tang Mingshan with disdain and advised, "Oh, you're just too pretentious! Hurry up and try it. These chive dumplings are delicious. One bite will leave a lingering fragrance in your mouth. And after you finish eating, we have small pills here that are specially used to remove bad breath. Just put one in your mouth and the problem will be solved immediately."

Tang Mingshan's eyes lit up when he heard this, but then he glared at Tong Yan fiercely and complained, "Huh, you had such a good thing and you didn't bring it out earlier? I missed out on so many delicious things!"

Tong Yan shrugged helplessly and replied with a smile: "This is a gift from my daughter. If you have the ability, ask her to get it for you!"

"Go away, my daughter is still breastfeeding. Hurry up and give me a few pills." Tang Mingshan poked Tong Yan in annoyance.