Chapter 291: Chapter 291 The Flood
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“I’m here this time mainly for the white sweet potatoes in the manor. So, I’ll leave only when the white sweet potatoes are ripe.” After Zhou Huaiming finished speaking, he picked up a black steamed bun and a piece of preserved meat.
Zhou Ying didn’t say anything more; she also picked up her chopsticks and started eating.
After the meal, Zhou Ying made them a pot of Longjing tea.
After two cups of tea, Zhou Huaiming asked, “I heard that the village planted nearly 100 acres of sweet potatoes, right?”
“Right, everyone planted some more later on. It should be around 150 acres in total.” Zhou Ying replied.
“That’s great. More is better. Otherwise, I’m afraid the kingdom will be in big trouble.” Zhou Huaiming stated with a serious face.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“Several counties in the south have suffered from floods. The grain harvest for the second season was destroyed by the flood, so the white potatoes are critical to whether the Ming Dynasty can be stabilized.”
“When did this happen?”
“Just two days ago. Do you still remember the passing rain a few days ago? It went down south and flooded the area.”
“I see.” Zhou Ying’s heart was a little heavy after hearing this. If it was only a disaster in the north, there was still breathing room for the kingdom. After all, most people had already moved down south.
Everyone’s life would be a little hard and tiring, but they could still endure it.
However, now that there was a flood in the South, the people were in despair.
“Don’t tell anyone about this, in case it causes panic,” Zhou Huaiming reminded her.
“Understood.”
“You should rest. Uncle Liu and I will go find Tian Jingzhong.” Zhou Huaiming nodded.
As soon as Zhou Ying heard this, she knew they had business to attend to. She got up and sent them out.
She closed the door and returned to her interspace. She then took out many pumpkins and taros, sliced them with her mental power, and laid them to dry.
If the situation worsened, they couldn’t eat buns or rice.
After that, she cooked red beans, soybeans, green beans, and black beans at low temperatures and ground them into powder for instant drinks.
She also made some black sesame paste.
At night, after Gu Chengrui returned, Zhou Ying told him about the flood in the south. She sighed, “The Ming Dynasty is sure filled with disasters.”
“It’s normal. Things will inevitably get hard when there are no high-yield crops or food reserves.”
“Now, I’m just afraid someone will take the opportunity to rebel. That’ll be miserable for everyone.” Gu Chengrui commented.
“By the way, when I just came back, I heard that the water level of the well at the village entrance has dropped,” he said.
“With so many people using it, it’s good enough that there’s enough for everyone. Fortunately, the white potatoes are about to ripen. Once they’ve ripened, the water consumption will lessen.”
“I hope we can hold on until it rains or snows. Otherwise, we’ll have to go deep into the mountains to find more water.” Gu Chengrui paused and continued, “By the way, it’s almost the 15th of August. You should find some time to make 10 pounds of mooncakes.”
“Forget about the mooncakes. It’s not suitable to make mooncakes that consume both oil and flour. I’ll make some chestnut cakes and slaughter a sheep.
“We’ll gift our acquaintances two pounds of mutton and one pound of chestnut cake.”
“That’s fine, too. It’s fine as long as it conveys the same meaning. We’ll have to give our extended family two wolf pelts too.”
After dinner, the two of them entered the interspace. Gu Chengrui looked at the things she had prepared and smiled.
He asked her to bring out some wheat bran, peanut cakes, a large number of dried white potato vines, and some dried dandelions.
He then mixed them according to some predetermined ratio and crushed them into powder.
Although these ‘inferior’ noodles didn’t look any different from the ones sold outside, they wouldn’t hurt their throat and were healthy.
As for Zhou Ying, she started making chestnut cakes. However, she didn’t only make the ten pounds of chestnut cakes that Gu Chengrui suggested. Instead, she made more than 50 pounds of chestnut cakes, all of which were made using the mooncake mold..
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