Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
âWhat are they complaining about?â Zhou Ying asked after being stunned for a moment.
âThey say thereâs sand and grit in it.â Fang Qing hesitated and continued, âIf it were up to me, I wouldnât have provided them with such good food. We should have just made them soup instead. That would save them the trouble of picking on us.â
Zhou Ying was not surprised. It was inevitable that dried vegetables would contain sand, especially when there was no extra water to wash them with.
She looked at them and saw that they werenât injured, letting out a sigh of relief. âWhat about now? Whatâs the situation there?â
âThe soldiers suppressed their riots.
âOh right, the organizer has invited all the restaurant owners to the Tian Mansion for a gathering. It should be to talk about the porridge stands.â
âAlright. Just do what you have to do.â After Zhou Ying finished speaking, she got up and washed her hands. She then returned to her room and changed her clothes before going out.
However, she didnât go directly to the Tian Mansion. She instead went to Hongyun Restaurant in search of Manager Liu.
It just happened that he was about to leave, so the two of them walked toward the Tian residence.
âUncle Liu, what do you think of this?â Zhou Ying asked on the way.
Manager Liu paused for a moment. âItâs not going to be easy. If the porridge stand canât continue, itâll be chaos all over.â
âCanât we just drive them away?â
âDrive them away?â Manager Liu looked at her in surprise.
He had always known she was kind; he didnât expect her to say such heartless words.
However, this was just what he wanted. It was good to be kind, but never too much, or it would be stupid.
âThatâs right. Our situation isnât looking too good cither. We didnât harvest much last year, so most people have limited food reserves.
âBesides, the water supply here is shrinking. Do you think we can support so many more people?â
âYouâve hit the nail on the head. To be honest, Iâm planning to close the restaurant in three days.â
âSeriously?â
âItâs true. Our food reserves are limited. The military camp needs more food, so most of the food and meat have been provided to them.â
âIs there a shortage of food at the military camp?â
âThatâs right. Last year, the Dongyang Residence didnât collect taxes, so military provisions entirely depended on the imperial court.
âHoweverâ¦
âNow, half of the country is suffering from a drought. The five prefectures in the south and north of Kaiyang had recently encountered a locust plague. Thereâs not a single crop left to harvest.
âWe assumed there was still food there, but apparently, they arenât in a better state than usâ¦â
âLocust plague?â Zhou Ying exclaimed.
Although she had never seen it before, she had heard of it in her previous life and had also seen it on TV. After a locust plague, it was mentioned that a thousand miles of land would be barren, with even children getting killed after getting bitten to death.
Thinking of this, she recalled her dream when he was living in Mother Godâs Temple; there was a scene of a thousand miles of barren land.
If it was a prophecy, would there be a flood after this?
When she thought of this, she couldnât help but feel scared.
âIndeed, where we are is already considered relatively well off.â When Manager Liu said this, he gave her a detailed explanation of the situation in those places.
âSo, save some food for yourself and live a simple life at home,â he said.
âYouâre also planning to stop at the porridge stand?â
âIâm not afraid of you laughing at me, but Hongyun Restaurant only has less than a thousand pounds of rice and four hundred pounds of white flour left.â
âItâs almost the same as mine, so we must work together.â
âYup, but we canât be the first to say this. I donât think we need to, so letâs see how it goes.â Manager Liu said, smiling.
Zhou Ying was stunned, but she remembered what Fang Qing had said. Some porridge stalls had porridge so thin that it could reflect a personâs shadow.
There were indeed others more anxious than them..