The end of natural disasters: the daily life of child brides in ancient times

Lu Shufu asked the old village chief:

"Grandpa, it's so hot now. We caught so many grasshoppers. If we don't finish them, they'll get smelly. How can we preserve them?"

When the old village chief heard this, he didn't know how to respond for a moment.

In the past, villagers rarely ate grasshoppers.

At most, after catching them in the fields, they would string them together, take them home, and roast them on the stove.

But a few of them can be skewered and grilled. Every family has grabbed several sacks, so it will take a long time to string them together.

Lu Qingqing also started to think about how to preserve the grasshoppers.

Nowadays, grasshoppers are fried and become crispy and fragrant when chewed after being dried.

But now they are on the road fleeing famine, where is the oil for them to fry?

Besides, even if there was lard, the villagers would probably not be willing to use it to fry grasshoppers.

In the village, it is considered good if you can wipe the pan with an oilcloth when cooking.

There is quite a lot of lard in Lu Qingqing's space, so she can fry some in the space to satisfy her craving.

But with so many grasshoppers in the team, we still have to find a way to preserve them.

The villagers were still discussing it. The old village chief's wife thought for a while and made a suggestion.

A roof is built on each family’s cart and covered with sacks or straw mats.

After boiling the grasshoppers in water, place them on the roof of the car to dry. The sun is good now and they will be dried in four or five days.

Many women were inspired by this. Some said they could make grasshopper sauce, while others said they could add some flour to make meatballs.

After everyone started talking, they chatted for a long time before stopping.

There is a prerequisite for doing all this, which is to have water.

Lu Tianfu looked at the sky. It was not yet noon. Based on his experience over the past few days, if he walked faster, he might encounter a small river.

Everyone quickened their pace and finally encountered a river before dusk. The flow of the river was not small.

When Lu Tianming and his group arrived, there were already quite a few people by the river.

Many of the refugees had already set up pots and started cooking grasshoppers. The stench of boiled grasshoppers could be smelled from a long distance away.

The bags piled high on the cart of Lu Tianming and his group attracted the attention of many refugees.

The gazes of the surrounding refugees made everyone in the team nervous and they kept paying attention to the surrounding situation at all times.

Each family’s weapons are at hand, and they can take action at any time if anything happens.

Lu Tianming found a place at the edge where there were fewer people and stopped.

There were many refugees around who were watching them. Lu Tianming was the first to open a bag of grasshoppers, and the people in the team followed suit.

The refugees looked away only after they saw that it was a grasshopper.

The families in the team relaxed a little, and many began to build stoves and set up iron pots.

After the men fetched water, the women began to boil water to cook the grasshoppers.

Seeing the women busy, the men were also busy. The few families without carriages had already gone to cut branches.

Now that the locusts have eaten them, there is no need to remove the leaves from the trees. They can be tied together to make the roof of the car.

When Qin Lang finished feeding the cows, Lu Qingqing was already building the stove.

She deliberately took out a small pot, intending to cook less.

When the team just came over, she smelled the smell of boiled grasshoppers, and she thought the boiled grasshoppers would not taste good.

After Qin Lang built the stove, he went to the river to fetch water.

When the grasshoppers were poured out of the sack, many of their compressed intestines came out and the smell was really unpleasant.

Qin Lang fetched more water and washed it several times before putting it into the pot of boiling water.

Even so, the cooked grasshoppers still have an unpleasant smell.

Qin Lang put the grasshoppers he had fished out into a basin, intending to sew the sack and then put it on the top of the carriage.

Before dark, another team of forty or fifty people arrived.

In the team, a group of guards riding tall horses and holding swords were escorting a carriage.

There was a handsome young man in rich clothes in the carriage. He opened the curtain and saw them boiling grasshoppers. He covered his nose in disgust.

The young master waved to the guard, and when the guard came over, he said:

"Do we really have to stop here? The bugs these people are cooking smell terrible!"

The guard replied respectfully:

"Sixth Young Master, the team is running low on water. If we continue forward, it will take at least three or four days to find another source of water."

Seeing that the young master was unhappy, the guard continued:

"If you don't like it here, I'll have someone quickly replenish the water supply, and we'll continue on our journey."

The young man rubbed his waist, which was sore from sitting, and thought about continuing on his way, but finally compromised and said:

"Forget it, let's just rest here tonight. But we have to stay away from them!"

The guard followed the direction of the young master's finger and looked at Lu Qingqing and his group and other refugee groups.

Finally, the young master's team stopped at the place farthest away from the refugees.

It was an upwind location, so the smell of boiled grasshoppers wouldn't drift over there, but getting water there wasn't very convenient.

Lu Tianming and his group relaxed when they saw them stop and that they were not too close to them.

This group of people were well-armed and outnumbered them. Fortunately, there were three loaded trucks behind them, so they probably had no shortage of food.

After it got completely dark, Lu Qingqing stopped cooking grasshoppers.

These cooked grasshoppers can be placed on the roof to form a layer.

When Qin Lang was bored, he skewered some grasshoppers and roasted them over the fire. After they were cooked, they smelled quite good.

Lu Qingqing sprinkled some salt, chili powder and a small amount of sugar on it, tasted it and it had a burnt aroma.

This one was a little burnt during baking, so Qin Lang finished eating it and continued to bake it.

Lu Qingqing took out needle and thread and started to sew a linen bag. Qin Lang would feed her some after he roasted a skewer.

By the time both of them were tired of eating, the sack was finished.

Qin Lang climbed up and spread the bag on the carriage. After securing the four sides, he put the cooked grasshoppers on it to dry.

In the middle of the night, Lu Qingqing was sleeping soundly when she was woken up by the person on duty.

Not far away, a group of refugees were approaching the young master's team.

Lu Qingqing looked around and saw that there were still many refugees approaching that direction, and most of them were just watching.

Lu Tianming also felt something was wrong. The refugees were fighting fiercely and his own team was in trouble.

He asked everyone to pack up quickly. All they had left were bedding for sleeping and dried locusts hanging on the roof of their cars.

While everyone was still cleaning up, they heard a scream from the other side.

Some refugees rushed forward, but were hacked down by the guards.

All of a sudden, apart from the refugees lying on the ground screaming, no one dared to step forward to grab.

The young master was sitting in the car nervously, and quietly lifted the curtain to look outside.

The guard leader noticed that more refugees were approaching and shouted:

"Zhou Qi, protect the Sixth Young Master and leave quickly!"

The driver of the young master's carriage was Zhou Qi. Upon hearing this, he quickly turned the carriage around and drove in another direction.

When the refugees saw people trying to run away, they no longer cared about being afraid and rushed forward with their weapons.

The guards around them stepped forward with knives to stop them and started fighting with the refugees.

The leader of the guards led two people and quickly ran towards the wagons loaded with supplies. He drove three wagons into the distance, shouting as he ran:

"Retreat, retreat quickly!"