Dual Transmigration: Starting from being captured and brought to the Hehuan Sect!

The backyard wasn't really a courtyard; it was just a rammed earth open space behind the county government office, with a few old locust trees bent by the sea breeze and a stone well covered in moss.

Liu Si and Zhang Tie settled all the children they had gathered here.

When Lin Mo walked in, there were thirty or forty children squatting or sitting in the yard, each holding a broken bowl and licking the scraps off the bowl.

The children ranged in age from twelve or thirteen to only three or four. They were all skin and bones, with arms as thin as twigs and ribs that protruded clearly through their thin, tattered clothes.

Their hair was matted and tangled, their faces were covered in dirt, and some of the children had obvious sores on their bodies.

Upon seeing Lin Mo enter, all the children instinctively shrank back, huddled together against the corner of the wall, heads bowed, not daring to look up at him, like a group of wild cats that had been kicked and were afraid of being kicked.

Only a few of the youngest children stared at him with their bright black eyes, their gazes filled with hunger, numbness, and a lingering trace of innocence.

Lin Mo stood in front of the group of children and remained silent for a long time.

If these people had gone hungry for another day or two, half of them would probably have died.

He turned around and gave Liu Si the order:

"Shave all the children's heads, then boil water and let each of them take a bath."

Liu Si paused for a moment, then looked troubled.

Our bodies and hair are gifts from our parents, and we dare not damage them. This is a rule passed down from our ancestors. Forcibly shaving one's head is not much different from beheading in terms of appearance.

Lin Mo noticed his hesitation and frowned before speaking:

"Do what I'm told to do, and do it quickly!"

"Yes, sir!"

Liu Si trembled, responded, and immediately ran into the room next door to get a wood-chopping knife.

Several older children instinctively covered their hair upon seeing this, their faces showing resistance.

In their minds, shaving one's head was a punishment for criminals, a disgrace that would be condemned and humiliated.

Seeing this, Liu Si cleared his throat, took a step to the middle of the courtyard, and shouted in a strong voice:

"Listen up, everyone! After your head is shaved and you take a bath, the county magistrate will even provide meals! White rice! Meat!"

The courtyard was quiet for a moment.

The children who were clutching their hair slowly loosened their grip.

All the children's eyes turned to Lin Mo, then to Liu Si, the numbness and fear in their eyes being suppressed by something more primal.

The children who were just fretting over their hair quietly put their hands down and obediently lined up.

When faced with hunger, filial piety must take a backseat.

After teaching Liu Si how to use the soap, Lin Mo turned and went to the kitchen.

The kitchen was steaming. Wang Ni and several women had already scraped and washed half a pig clean. The pigskin was scraped until it turned white, and the texture of the fat and lean meat was clearly visible. It was still steaming slightly on the cutting board.

Seeing Lin Mo roll up his sleeves and walk in, the women all took a step back.

"Watch carefully, I'll only teach you once."

Lin Mo moved the pork belly to the cutting board, twirled the cleaver in his hand, and with a swift stroke, cut the meat into evenly sized cubes, each with a marbling pattern of fat and lean meat.

Several women stared wide-eyed, amazed at how skillfully this county magistrate wielded his knife—even more so than Zhang the butcher, the county's top butcher.

What shocked them even more was what happened next. Lin Mo poured some water into the pot, added scallions and ginger, and put the meat chunks into the cold water.

The meat chunks rolled and changed color in the boiling water. Lin Mo poked them with chopsticks to make sure they were cooked through, then used a slotted spoon to scoop them out and drain them. He poured out the foam from the pot and had the woman wash it.

The woman looked at the glistening meat soup with a pained expression, but she could only obediently do as she was told.

Once the steam on the pot had evaporated, Lin Mo added a spoonful of rapeseed oil and a handful of rock sugar.

As the pot heats up, the sugar slowly melts in the oil, producing golden bubbles, then turning amber, and finally a beautiful jujube red.

A sweet caramel aroma filled the air, and several women couldn't help but take a deep breath. Sugar was something precious to them, something that should be locked away in a cupboard. They had never seen anyone so generously pouring it into a pot.

What baffled them even more was that sugar could be fried to this color?

Lin Mo slowly poured the blanched meat pieces into the pot, and with a flick of the spatula, each piece of meat was evenly coated with caramel coloring, glistening with an enticing reddish-brown sheen under the firelight.

Then he added scallion segments, ginger slices, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, and angelica root in sequence. As the spatula stirred the spices in the iron pot, the hot oil released a rich aroma that mingled with the smell of meat and sugar, wafting out through the crack in the kitchen door.

Wang Ni gripped the edge of her apron, swallowed hard, and the sound of her Adam's apple bobbing was exceptionally clear in the quiet kitchen.

She secretly glanced at Zhang Shi beside her; Zhang Shi's throat was also moving incessantly, and her eyes were red.

Lin Mo methodically added soy sauce for color and salt for seasoning, and finally poured in half a pot of hot water, just enough to cover the meat pieces.

He slammed the lid on the pot, dusted off imaginary ash from his hands, and addressed the crowd:

"Simmering for about half an hour is enough. Finally, turn up the heat to reduce the sauce until it's thick and sticky enough to cling to the spatula. Then the dish is done."

"Yes, sir!"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

As darkness fell, a bonfire was lit in the backyard of the county government office.

Orange flames licked the bottom of the large cooking pot brought back from the main world. The pot bubbled and churned, and the aroma of meat mixed with the smoky smell of firewood filled the entire street like a tidal wave.

Several beggars waiting outside the yamen followed the scent and sniffed through the crack in the door.

Across the street, in a barely thriving teahouse, a dozing waiter was awakened by the aroma. He sniffed hard and swallowed hard.

Under the glow of the campfire, dozens of bald little heads were lined up in a crooked column.

Both boys and girls had their heads shaved, and the scent of soap lingered on their heads.

The children cried their hearts out when they were getting their heads shaved, but now that they smelled the meat, their tears had long since dried. Each of them was holding their newly issued metal lunchboxes, craning their necks and staring longingly at the bubbling pots.

Liu Si stood at the front of the line maintaining order. He shouted "Line up, line up!" while glancing into the pot. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and the lunchbox in his hand trembled.

Zhang Tie and Wang Laonian squatted by the pot, taking charge of the ladle. Their hands were trembling as they held the ladles, not because they were afraid of getting burned, but because they were nervous.

Having worked as a lowly servant for half my life, I've never seen so much meat before, and I never imagined that one day I would be able to personally distribute meat to so many children.

Zhang Tie wiped his sweat with his sleeve, looked down at the iron spoon in his hand, which was glistening with meat juices. He couldn't help but stick out his tongue and lick the back of the spoon, and he shuddered. Just a tiny bit of the broth was so fragrant. He thought that eating a whole piece of braised pork later would be heavenly.

When the broth had reduced to the desired consistency, the military-style pot was carried to the table by Wang Ni and three other women.

A pot is brimming with braised pork. The pieces of meat tremble slightly in the thick, dark red broth. The fat is cooked until it's translucent and the lean meat is so tender that it falls apart when picked up with chopsticks.

The other pot contained white rice, each grain distinct, piled high like a small mountain, the steam carrying the aroma of rice straight to one's nose. Next to it was a bucket of seaweed and egg drop soup, the egg flowers floating on the noodles like golden clouds.

The gurgling sounds stopped, replaced by a chorus of swallowing sounds, densely packed together, like a group of toads having a meeting in a pond.

"Line up, one at a time! Everyone gets a big spoonful of rice, a big spoonful of meat, and a bowl of soup! What's the rush!"

Liu Si raised his voice to maintain order, his voice eight octaves higher than before.

The children lined up obediently, holding their newly issued metal lunchboxes to their chests as if they were holding some rare treasure.

These lunchboxes are all the most common stainless steel lunchboxes in the main world, but in the eyes of the children in Lianhai County, these things are shiny, light and sturdy, and are much better than the chipped ceramic bowls at home.