Three Kingdoms: A Million Soldiers Grown from the Fields

Chapter 44 Morning (Please continue reading)

A faint yellow tinge appeared on the horizon.

Before the roosters crowed, Zhou Cui had already gotten up very early.

As usual, I washed up first, and then went to look at the forty or fifty large earthenware jars next to the storeroom.

This is something the head of the family and the women made a few days ago. It took a lot of effort. The head of the family said it was for brewing wine, so she was very concerned and often came to check it, afraid that someone else would come and mess with it.

Seeing that there was nothing wrong with the dozens of earthenware jars, she turned around and went to the storeroom, picked up a sack of 60 jin of millet and went back to the kitchen.

She is responsible for the daily meals of nearly thirty people, and she has to get up early every day to prepare.

Thinking about the day, she went back and forth to the thatched house where the pickled vegetables were kept, and when she returned to the kitchen, she was carrying a basket of duck eggs.

These are salted duck eggs, a snack made by the head of the household. They are salty and delicious, with oily and slightly grainy yolks.

I don't know where the head of the family got so many duck eggs. There are now more than a thousand pickling eggs in the pickling room, and another batch will be pickled in four or five days.

In other words, the head of the household was willing to spend money, buying hundreds of bushels of coarse salt and green salt. In the past, people were not allowed to use coarse salt when cooking; they had to use green salt, which cost a lot of money.

Even the salted duck eggs pickled in brine are only allowed to be eaten once every three days.

Just thinking about those big-eater boys made Zhou Cui smile; they were all such good kids.

She works tirelessly every day and often finds time to tease Zhen'er, which makes the little one complain quite a bit in front of her. But even though she says she's complaining, she knows from the happy smile on her daughter's face that it's just playful banter between playmates.

The head of the family is a good man. If it weren't for him, he and his daughter would probably be a pile of bones by the roadside by now.

The people of Taoyuan are all good people, and everyone lives in harmony. Life is getting better every day.

Woohoo!
The rooster crowed precisely on time to announce the morning.

Suddenly, the once tranquil and peaceful paradise seemed to awaken all at once.

People came out of their thatched huts one after another, washed up, chatted, and then began a new day.

The farmland that needed tending has been taken care of, and the wasteland that needed cultivating has been taken by people in groups, leading old oxen and carrying plows.

The last time over a thousand acres of wasteland suddenly appeared, the reclamation work never stopped.

The new fields are still planted with sorghum, but considering that the thousand acres of wasteland is quite large, these new fields are divided into two plots: one for sorghum and one for beans.

It's a bit late in the season, but these two crops aren't too picky about the season, so there will still be a harvest.

"It's time to eat!"

Zhou Cui from the kitchen knocked on the iron plate hanging under the eaves and shouted towards the stream.

Over there, about twenty young men were squatting by the stream, listlessly washing up. But as soon as they heard the shouts from the kitchen, they immediately perked up.

Since we've come all this way, food is the one thing we shouldn't miss out on.

"Aunt Cui is here!"

The young men took off running.

Zhang Xian yawned and pushed open the door to his bedroom.

"Zao Xian Ge!"

"morning."

Good morning, Brother Xian!

"Good morning."

The young men running past Zhang Xian's courtyard greeted him energetically, and Zhang Xian responded sleepily.

He stretched and looked at the sun, which was just beginning to brighten on the horizon, then picked up his earthenware basin and headed towards the stream to wash up.

Millet porridge, pickled radish, and salted duck egg.

The breakfast was delicious. Except for the salted egg, which couldn't be refilled, the millet porridge and pickled radish were all available.

The young men ate their breakfast while chatting and laughing. After finishing their porridge and eggs, they rested for about ten minutes.

"gather!!"

A sharp whistle rang out, and Zhao Yun blew it.

Upon hearing the whistle, the young men's playful banter immediately ceased, and they stopped whatever they were doing and ran to the training ground to line up. Huang Zhong watched from afar, while Huang Xu nervously held his hand beside him.

"Father..."

“It’s alright, Xu’er. We’ll live here from now on, and bring your mother over in a while.”

"Is Mother coming too?" Huang Xu looked up at the lower half of his father's face with anticipation.

Huang Zhong nodded slightly, but his eyes remained fixed on the young men who had already begun practicing their stances in the training ground.

In the kitchen, Li Zhen, who was helping her mother clear the dishes, suddenly slapped her forehead: "Oh dear!"

"What's wrong?" Zhou Cui asked, looking at her in confusion.

"We forgot about two people! The two who came last night."

"Mother, is there any food left?"

Zhou Cui nodded and pointed to the earthenware pot: "There's still some porridge in the pot, but we're out of salted eggs, only pickled radishes left."

Upon hearing this, Li Zhen ran to the pottery steamer, stood on a small stool, and lifted the lid.

"It's alright, it should be enough for Uncle. Mother, you don't know, that uncle is very tall, almost as tall as the head of the family."

"Is that so?" Zhou Cui chuckled, her hands still busy washing the dishes. "Then you can deliver them there. Does the head of the family know?"

"I know, the head of the family asked me to deliver the meal last night."

The little girl took two earthenware bowls, scooped out the porridge with a long wooden spoon, and then put a few pieces of pickled radish into a small dish.

She placed it on a plate and carried it out.

"Uncle!"

From afar, Li Zhen saw the two people standing outside the herbal hut, and she carefully walked towards them with her tray in her hand.

Seeing this, Huang Zhong took Huang Xu's hand and went forward to meet them.

"Give."

Two large bowls of millet porridge were a beautiful golden-orange color, and the glistening radishes on the side were quite attractive.

"Thank you, girl. Is breakfast this early in our village?"

Huang Zhong carried the tray in one hand and walked back to the stool.

Li Zhen looked at Huang Xu curiously: "The head of the family has arranged for the guards to eat three meals a day, so you will have to get up early from now on, otherwise you will have to wait until noon to eat."

"Three meals a day?" Huang Zhong subconsciously looked towards the training ground.

This is not the treatment that ordinary farmhands would receive, and the stance training method is not something that ordinary farmhands would use.

There are many ways to train the lower body, but this kind of undulating stance is more commonly used on cavalry, meaning...
This is not the manor protector the patriarch spoke of, but a retainer!

Huang Zhong handed his son a bowl of millet porridge, and then picked up a bowl himself and took a sip.

It was smooth, sweet, and creamy at first, but then I picked up a piece of radish and took a small bite: "Hmm? It's salty!"

The salty taste of the radish was obvious, which further confirmed his earlier guess.

If not for his retainers, who in their village would be willing to eat salt so early in the morning? His martial arts skills, if not modest, could be described as being able to defeat ten thousand men, and he was very familiar with the methods of building up his strength.

After finishing a large bowl of porridge in a few gulps, he looked at Li Zhen'er beside him, who was making faces and amusing her son, and said, "Is the head of the family awake? I would like to go and pay my respects."

"Get up, get up. He should be in the study right now, or he should be teaching those doctors in the cowshed."

"Xu'er, you come with me." Huang Zhong was speechless for a moment. They had met twice, but he still didn't know how to address the little girl.

"Li Zhen is ten years old this year and is the master's maid." The little girl had a keen eye and could roughly guess the uncle's predicament.

“This is Huang Zhong, and this is my son Huang Xu. Xu’er, stay with Sister Zhen’er and don’t run around. Zhen’er, I’ll trouble you to look after my son.”

"Leave it to me," Li Zhen said, patting his chest.

"Yes, Father." Huang Xu nodded obediently.

(End of this chapter)