Chapter 207

However, with the limited gold pieces, after purchasing the indenture contracts of twenty-three people, there were very few left. They carefully managed along the way, barely eating enough to stave off hunger and survive.

As soon as Bai Manshan mentioned food, the others instinctively placed their hands on their empty stomachs.

Upon hearing how Bai Manshan and his group had endured hunger, Shuiqing promptly stood up, “Wait, I’ll make sure everyone eats their fill!”

Madame Hu, seeing that those who had helped her daughter earlier were still hungry, also joined in the kitchen to assist.

Qin Yilin, Ding Jiajia, Yan Qiuxing, and Zhaodi’s younger brother followed to see if there was anything else they could help with.

With so many people, some fetched water, others started fires, some mixed noodles, and they all worked quickly and efficiently.

Three large iron pots were simultaneously placed over the firewood.

Shuiqing’s thought was clear—since they were hungry, speed was crucial; the food couldn’t be too complicated.

Rolling out noodles and making dumplings or steamed buns would take too long. They decided to make noodles.

While rolling out the noodles, they quickly prepared the toppings. Once the noodles were cooked, they were swiftly served with a ladleful of toppings, simple yet delicious.

Madame Hu scooped flour into a large wooden basin without hesitation.

Qin Yilin went to the storeroom to fetch a large piece of cured pork, slicing it evenly into thin pieces.

Yan Qiuxing helped pick out green peppers and greens picked the previous day, while Ding Jiajia washed them in the large wooden basin.

Hui Zhaodi’s younger brother tended the fire.

Shuiqing first filled most of the large iron pot with water, instructing, “Jiajia, once the greens are washed, put them in to blanch. Then scoop them out directly into the coarse earthenware basin.”

Ding Jiajia crisply responded, “Okay!”

Shuiqing turned to fry the toppings in the middle iron pot.

The toppings were cured pork fried with green peppers, while in the innermost pot, they fried sunny-side-up eggs.

When the aroma of food wafted from the kitchen, Bai Manshan had lost interest in chatting and was staring at the kitchen, saliva dripping from his mouth.

Good heavens, only now did he realize how uncomfortable hunger could be!

Fortunately, Shuiqing didn’t keep them waiting long. He shouted outside, “It’s ready! Shall we bring it out to eat or sit in the dining hall?”

“I’ll take mine myself!” Bai Manshan leaped up and rushed to the kitchen.

Seeing this, everyone else followed suit.

In large coarse earthenware bowls—or rather, tubs—were white noodles rolled by hand, firm and snowy white.

On top, the cured pork gleamed with oil, and the green peppers fried with it also glistened.

Inside were emerald-green vegetables and sunny-side-up eggs with both sides golden brown!

Everyone couldn’t help but gulp down saliva but dared not approach.

If it weren’t for more than twenty tubs lined up neatly, looking exactly alike, one couldn’t help but think they weren’t meant for Old Bai to eat.

Bai Manshan urged, “Quick, bring it over.”

“Eh? Oh.”

“Ah!”

Everyone awakened as if from a dream, quickly stepping forward to pick up their bowl of noodles and move outside, clearing space for the next person.

Bai Manshan also took a large bowl and walked toward the covered corridor.

Outside, it was bright and breezy, much more comfortable than inside the house.

Everyone ate heartily, slurping down the noodles.

The noodles were delicate and smooth, hand-rolled with vigor, accompanied by the fragrance of pork and eggs, the spiciness of peppers, and the refreshment of greens. The food left everyone too busy eating to speak.

With a large bowl of noodle soup in their bellies, they felt full and warm all over, as if everyone present had finally come back to life.

After a while, one of the men in the crowd suddenly said, “Old Bai, I want to stay here.”

“So do I.”

“I also want to stay.”

One after another echoed his sentiments, heartfelt and sincere.

Having grown up in the village, they had never had such a delicious meal!

The noodles made from white flour, paired with cured pork and sunny-side-up eggs—clear oil patterns visible on the eggs—showed that their new master was not stingy with oil.

Even though they only needed to make a bowl of noodles like Bai Manshan’s, boiling a pot of paste would have been the same, yet they had been given food just like Bai Manshan’s.

After suffering from the flood, their old master only wanted to sell off the surviving people to reduce his losses. Bai Manshan bought them and found them a new master, a generous one. It seemed they could live on in the future.

Bai Manshan looked at the group he had brought along one last time and asked, “Have you made up your minds?”

All twenty-three people nodded uniformly.

Bai Manshan understood and waved for Shuiqing and Fan Jin to join him in the tea room.

Bai Manshan sighed and explained, “I redeemed their indenture contracts intending to set them free. But they said they’ve been on our estate since birth, and after so many years, they’re used to the life here and only know how to work in agriculture. They wouldn’t know what to do elsewhere; leaving would mean a dead end for them.”

“My Bai family estate hasn’t suffered any losses. We don’t need additional manpower, but I thought of you. Are you willing? Just to be clear, they’ve grown up together on our estate. It would be best not to separate them.”

Shuiqing understood; if they were willing, they would take them all.

She happily nodded, “Yes! We happen to need more people!”

In the past, she might have hesitated over whether it would be too much, but after acquiring fields and forests, she immediately felt it was just right!

Bai Manshan still had some concerns, “Twenty-three people will require a lot of food expenses. With the severe damage caused by the flood, the harvests in the coming seasons will also be affected. Do you have enough food?”

If there hadn’t been a shopping mall, Shuiqing would have definitely worried about how to support these people until the next season.

But now, with over a million credits still available in the shopping mall and plenty earned from gathering mushrooms, they had enough to eat well every day!

So Shuiqing wasn’t worried at all, “It’s enough. We stocked up a lot before the floods!”

Bai Manshan thought she was referring to potatoes and immediately said, “As we traveled here, we were nearly robbed several times! I was thinking of sending a batch of potatoes to the Bai family estate tomorrow. Otherwise, if things get worse, I’m afraid we won’t be able to get them through.”

With several hundred people at the Bai family estate and all their crops destroyed, they wouldn’t have any grain harvested this season. The stored food would last at most until the beginning of next spring.

If they couldn’t plant potatoes in the ** month, by the time next year came around and the grain failed, the livelihood of several hundred people would be impossible to maintain.

Fan Jin understood the importance of food for the farm workers and replied, “Okay, I’ll go to the village later to borrow a flatbed and a wheelbarrow.” Their family only had one ox cart and one donkey cart, which wasn’t nearly enough.

Bai Manshan relaxed and continued, “You’ll need to borrow these people from me for a few days. And, Jin, go to the village and inquire. I’ll pay one hundred wen a day to hire people to pull carts and deliver potatoes to Zhulin Village, Nanning Prefecture. Anyone willing to go can come to my house in their most tattered clothes.”

It was because he wore good quality clothes that those disaster victims eyed him!

Fortunately, the others in the group were obviously impoverished farmers who could provide labor, so they didn’t act on it.

Tomorrow, he would also change into tattered clothes and set off.

Then he turned to Shuiqing and said, “Big sister, last time I stored my belongings here…”

Shuiqing immediately understood, “How much do you need? Or should I bring out everything?”