Early the next morning, all the men, women, and children in the four salt fields, except for a few people who were housekeepers, all went out with their own tools.
In previous years, if this group of kitchen workers had the chance to leave the salt field, I don’t know how many people would have escaped.
But first, there are Japanese pirates in many places outside now, which makes it unsafe.
Second, there had just been a flood, and the government was watching closely, so they couldn't go anywhere.
Third, Xu He said that as long as he worked hard, he would have enough to eat three times a day.
Yes, that’s right, three meals.
"Three meals a day, one meal at noon must be dry!" Xu He said to everyone in the Xu family.
One of them questioned: "How can you hire a helper like this? Three meals a day, and you can't have a light meal at noon, what a waste?"
Xu Dai now follows Xu He's lead in everything. When he hears someone questioning him, he immediately looks away.
It's a pity that this look did not scare the man. The Xu family stared at Xu He, ready to see what he could say about Chou Yin Mao.
Xu He said: "I won't talk about empty words like [accumulating virtue and doing good deeds]. I just want to ask all uncles, when the food comes from the court, will the kitchen servants help you prepare the land?"
"Yes, people are eating the relief food for free, and they don't have to put in any effort. Only a fool would help us prepare the fields!"
Xu He added: "If the salt department official comes down and orders the salt households to resume drying salt in the field, and they can't get out, what will happen to your fields?"
"Hiss..." Everyone really didn't expect this.
Xu He said warmly: "So, we are competing with the court for time now. If we want the horse to run fast, then what..."
Immediately, some members of the Xu family gave a thumbs up and said, "Then don't you have enough fodder?"
Xu He threw a look at him, which made your mind spin quickly.
At this time, the Xu family landlords immediately started discussing in groups of three and five.
"That's right, you can't miss three meals a day!"
"Not only at noon, but also preferably for three meals, we also have to ask the farmers to catch some fish. Eating dry will not increase your strength!"
"Don't we all have salted fish pickled during the Chinese New Year at home? Make some and put it in the rice to borrow some flavor!"
"Don't just think about eating! Let's go ask the clan leader and ask him to help find a solution..."
"What can I do?"
"Ask him to find someone to impeach the newly appointed Transport Envoy. The Salt Division will simply not be able to function normally. All the Transport Envoys are gone. The Salt Division will still be in trouble for a while. Let's...hehe!"
"We still need to spend some money to ask the cook from the Salt Department's Yamen to get some croton for those officials!"
Xu He and Xu Dai looked at each other and wiped the big beads of sweat on their heads in unison.
In the afternoon, when Xu He and Xu Dai came to several villages near Kuancha, they found that Zhuangzi, which used to have a pastoral atmosphere where chickens and dogs were chatting among each other, had now turned into a large construction site.
A group of kitchen workers started digging from the river next to Zhuangzi, preparing to dig an irrigation canal directly to the beach.
The soil that was taken out was all sent to the beach in a row of wheelbarrows.
Soon, a small piece of Tandangtian that had sunk into the calves with one step was already large enough for people to stand on.
Wu Decao behind him said: "Liangsheng, look over there!"
Xu He and the others looked in the direction of Wu Decao's finger.
I saw some kitchen workers taking soil and directly blocking the rivers where seawater was flowing back with wood and rocks. Finally, they simply filled the original saltwater rivers with soil.
Xu Dai looked at the progress of the project and couldn't be too satisfied. He waved his hand and said a few words to the manager of Zhuangzi behind him.
In the evening, a group of kitchen workers returned from the beach to the sun drying area on the village.
At this time, a simple shack had been built, and in the center of the drying area were about twenty large pots.
The cooks who had finished work had just walked to the drying area with big bowls and chopsticks, when an alluring aroma suddenly hit their nostrils.
Old Zhengtou stood next to Xu Dai and Xu He and asked: "What kind of fragrance is this? Mr. Xu, what is put in this porridge? It is so fragrant?"
Xu Dai smiled proudly and pretended to be mysterious: "Let's go and see it together!"
He brought Xu He, Lao Zheng and others to the drying area. A group of villagers saw their master and hurriedly paid their respects.
Xu Dai raised his chin, inspecting tonight's battle formation like a proud general, walked around in a circle, nodded with satisfaction and said loudly: "Let's eat!"
As soon as the farmers got the master's order, they opened the dozens of big pots.
In an instant, everyone present was stunned.
There was no porridge in those big pots. They were all filled with fragrant rice.
When the kitchen servants saw this battle, they did not cry and call him "the great good man" as Xu Dai imagined.
Instead, they were all like wooden piles, looking at the cauldrons motionless.
Xu Dai was anxious: "What are you doing? This is good rice, big rice! Why don't you move!"
Suddenly there was a kid from Zao Ding's family. He was covered in mud and water, and his throat was rumbling desperately. He pulled his mother who was also a mud monkey next to him and said: "Mom, I want to eat white rice!"
This sound seemed to immediately bring these wooden pile-like people to life.
An old man knelt down in front of Xu He and said, "I am a kind-hearted man. In the future, my descendants will all be high officials!"
As soon as he took the lead, all the cooks in the field choked and knelt down in front of Xu Dai in the middle.
Xu Dai was startled and quickly went to help one by one, but he couldn't help him.
With his head next to him, Old Zheng burst into tears and said: "Second Master, to be honest, I had resentment towards you before, but today I discovered that you are a kind person, not bad at heart. Thank you for your kindness, little old man." Everyone prepared... prepared..."
Speaking of this, Lao Zheng choked up.
The kitchen workers were so miserable. They thought that if they came to work here, they would at most eat some grains and make a paste. As long as it was not too thin, it would be okay.
Who knew that the host actually gave me rice!
Even during holidays, they are reluctant to eat this white rice!
Xu Dai was completely stunned.
For the first time, he felt that being appreciated felt so good.
The price is just a meal of white rice.
But where is this?
At this time, another farmer opened a large wooden barrel. The barrel was filled with soup, with a layer of yellow grease floating on it. The aroma just came from this barrel.
The farmer picked up a big spoon and scooped it out. It was all pieces of duck meat.
The duck meat is also mixed with some wild vegetables!
Seeing this, Lao Zhengtou turned around and shouted to the cooks and salt households in the field: "The second master of the Xu family treats us like this, so we tea drinkers don't have anything to say?"
"Uncle, don't worry, I, Wang Zhu'er, will definitely try my best tomorrow!"
"That's right, Mr. Xu, don't worry. Just for this meal, our tea cooker will definitely do a great job for you!"
"If you dare to cheat, you are not a member of our tea farm!"
"right!"
"well said!"
Xu Dai looked at the faces in front of him and excitedly made a bowl of duck soup full of meat with his own hands and handed it to the mother of the child just now.
What did he want to say?
But I found that I couldn't say a word.
I still feel a little ashamed in my heart.
So, after he gave the bowl to the mother, he touched the child's head, bowed his hands to everyone, and turned away.
Xu He discovered that the corners of Xu Er Ye, whom he had always looked down upon, had sparkling eyes.
