Chapter 207 Shelter 2
But the gold pieces were limited. After buying the indentures of 23 people, there was not much left. They had to be frugal along the way and could barely eat half full, enduring hunger every meal.
When he mentioned food, the others unconsciously covered their empty stomachs.
When Shuiqing heard that Bai Manshan and his group came over hungry, he quickly stood up and said, "Wait, make sure everyone is well fed!"
Seeing that the people who helped her daughter in the morning were still hungry, Hu's mother hurried into the kitchen to help.
Qin Yilin, Ding Jiajia, Yan Qiuxing, and Hui Zhaodi also followed in to see if there was anything they could help with.
There were many people, some fetched water, some made fire, and some mixed noodles, and they worked quickly and well.
Three large iron pots were set up with firewood and burned at the same time.
Shuiqing thought that since they were hungry, they had to be fast and the food couldn't be too complicated.
Rolling bread and dumplings, and making steamed buns with dough were too slow, so they should just make noodles.
While rolling the noodles, stir-fry the toppings. When the noodles come out of the pot, just scoop a spoonful of toppings on them. It's quick and delicious.
Hu's mother scooped flour into the big wooden basin, scooping white flour with a clang, without any regret.
Qin Yilin went to the warehouse to get a large piece of bacon and cut it into thin slices of uniform thickness.
Yan Qiuxing was helping to pick the green peppers and small green vegetables picked yesterday, and Ding Jiajia was responsible for washing them in the big wooden basin.
Zhaodi was making a fire.
Shuiqing first scooped most of the water into the outermost large iron pot, and reminded: "Jiajia, put the washed small green vegetables in it and blanch them, and put them directly in the coarse pottery basin."
Ding Jiajia responded crisply.
Shuiqing turned around and fried the toppings in the big iron pot in the middle.
The toppings were bacon and green peppers, and at the same time, fried poached eggs in the innermost pot.
When the aroma of food wafted out of the kitchen, Bai Manshan was no longer in the mood to chat. He stared at the kitchen with his mouth drooling.
My God, he just realized how uncomfortable it is to be hungry!
Fortunately, Shuiqing didn't let anyone wait for long and shouted outside: "Okay! Should we take it out or sit in the dining room to eat?"
"I'll take it myself!" Bai Manshan jumped up and rushed to the kitchen.
Seeing this, the others followed him in.
The big stoneware bowl, no, it was more like a stoneware basin filled with white noodles, white and chewy.
The bacon on it was shiny, and the green peppers fried with it were also shiny.
There were also green vegetables and fried eggs that were golden on both sides!
Everyone couldn't help swallowing their saliva, but they didn't dare to step forward.
If there weren't more than 20 stoneware basins lined up in a row, looking exactly the same, one couldn't help but wonder if this wasn't for Master Bai to eat?
Bai Manshan urged: "Take it away quickly."
"Ah? Oh."
"Oh!"
Everyone walked up quickly, picked up the bowl of noodles and walked outside as if they had just woken up from a dream, leaving the space for the next person.
Bai Manshan also took a big bowl and walked to the corridor outside while eating.
It was bright and breezy outside, more comfortable than inside the house.
The others did the same, each of them ate the noodles in big mouthfuls.
The white noodles were delicate and smooth, the hand-rolled noodles were strong, the meat and eggs were fragrant, the peppers were appetizing, and the vegetables were refreshing. Everyone was too busy to talk.
After a big bowl of soup noodles, the stomach was full and the whole body was warm. It seemed that the people present had finally come back to life.
After a long while, the man in the crowd suddenly said: "Master Bai, I want to stay here."
"Me too."
"I want to stay too."
The echoes came one after another, from the heart, sincerely.
They had grown up in the village and had never eaten such a delicious meal!
The noodles were made of white flour, and served with bacon and poached eggs. The fat on the poached eggs was clearly visible. The new owner didn't skimp on the oil.
It was obvious that they only needed to make a bowl of white flour noodles for Mr. Bai alone, and they would have cooked a pot of porridge, but they prepared the same food for them as for Mr. Bai.
After the flood, the old owner only wanted to sell the survivors for silver to reduce the loss. Mr. Bai bought them and found a new owner for them, who was also a kind owner. It seemed that they could live well in the future.
Bai Manshan looked at the group of people he brought with him and asked for the last time: "Have you thought about it?"
The twenty-three people nodded in unison.
Bai Manshan understood, waved to Shuiqing and Fan Jin, and the three of them entered the tea room.
Bai Manshan sighed and explained: "I sold their indentures to redeem them. My original intention was to set them free, but they said that they had been on the farm since they were born. They were used to being servants for so many years and could only do farm work. They didn't know what to do if they were sent to other places. It would be a dead end if they went out."
"No one in my Baijiazhuang was killed, so it's okay if we don't add people. I thought of you. Can you do it? Let's make it clear first. They grew up in the same farm and they are the only ones left. It's best not to let them separate."
Shuiqing understood. If they wanted it, they should take it together.
She nodded happily: "Okay! We just need people!"
In the past, she might have considered whether it was too much, but after buying the fields and forests, she immediately felt that it was not too much at all!
Bai Manshan was still a little worried: "Twenty-three people, the food cost is not small. Now the fields are severely damaged by floods, and the harvests in the next few seasons will be affected. Do you have enough food?"
If there was no shopping mall, Shuiqing would definitely worry about how to feed these people until the next season.
But now there are still millions of balances in the shopping mall, plus there are many people picking mushrooms, the money earned is enough to eat every meal!
So Shui Qing is not panicked at all: "Enough, I stocked up a lot before the flood!"
Bai Manshan thought she was talking about potatoes, and immediately said, "We were almost robbed several times along the way!
I'm thinking of transporting a batch of potatoes to Baijiazhuang tomorrow, otherwise if there is more chaos in the future, I'm afraid we won't be able to transport them."
There are hundreds of people in Baijiazhuang, and all their crops were destroyed. There was no harvest this season, and the stored food can only last until the beginning of next spring.
If potatoes cannot be planted in August and September, when the next year is a lean period, the livelihoods of these hundreds of people will not be guaranteed.
Fan Jin knew the importance of food to farmers, and said, "Okay, I'll go to the village to borrow a cart and a wheelbarrow later." His family only had an ox cart and a donkey cart, which was not enough.
Bai Manshan breathed a sigh of relief, and then said, "You have to lend me this batch of people for a few more days, and Jindi, go to the village and ask, I will pay 100 coins a day to hire people to pull carts to deliver potatoes to Zhulin Village, Nanning Prefecture. Those who are willing to go can wear the most tattered clothes at home."
It was because the clothes he wore were made of good material that he was targeted by those disaster victims!
Fortunately, the other people in the team were poor farmers who were working hard, so they didn't do anything.
He would also change into rags and set off tomorrow.
Then he turned to Shuiqing and said, "Big sister, the money I left with you last time"
Shuiqing immediately understood, "How much do you want? Or take it all out?"