Chapter 352 - 352 Especially Bad
“Those seeds won’t run away, and it’s just a matter of time before planting them. I’m going up the mountain to dig for some wild vegetables. Are you coming?”
“Let’s go. We can dig up some dandelions, chameleon plants, and so on to ease the food shortage.”
“Wait a moment; 1’11 go find two small shovels.”
After Zhou Ying said that, she turned to the kitchen and took two small shovels that were usually used to transplant seedlings and three pieces of roasted white potatoes that were stored in her interspace warehouse.
She brought Er Zhuang and Gu Chengxi up the mountains once they were ready.
However, the village children had dug everything in the outer area of the mountains, so they had to walk a little deeper. Even common plants like shepherd’s purse, thistle, and dandelions are rare these days.
They did find some mint, chameleon plant, Chinese plantain, gotu kola, and other herbs. They picked the bigger ones of these plants.
On the way back, Zhou Ying took advantage of the time when no one was around and scattered many of the wild vegetables she had collected in her interspace around the mountains.
She also sprinkled common medicinal herb seeds like purple perilla, indigowoad root, and prunella grass. This way, she could pick these herbs afterward so they wouldn’t have to worry about headaches and fever.
After returning home, Zhou Ying took a handful of chameleon plants and a handful of mint. She gave the rest to Gu Chengxi and said, “Take these back. They might be of great use at some point.”
“All right, sister-in-law. I’ll return home now.” Gu Chengxi nodded his head solemnly. He took the medicinal herbs and went home.
After he left, Zhou Ying went to her interspace to boil a pot of water and make a cup of mint tea. The sky turned dark after she had had tea, so she turned and went to the kitchen to cook.
However, in case Zhou Huaiming and the others were coming over for dinner, she didn’t cook up a feast.
Instead, she cooked a plate of salted fish, a stewed dish of pickled vegetables and blood tofu, and finally, a plate of stewed beef with fried chives and eggs the kind with more chives than actual eggs.
Finally, she boiled a pot of black dumpling soup with a huge scoopful of white potato grains.
Sure enough, Zhou Huaiming and the others arrived just as she finished cooking.
Zhou Ying came out and asked them to stay for dinner.
After the meal, Zhou Huaiming and the other two returned to the manor.
After Zhou Ying finished cleaning up, she locked the door and returned. She found Gu Chengrui sitting at the table, drinking water without saying a word. She paused and went forward to ask, “Is the situation outside that bad?”
“Yeah, what I saw was much more severe than Brother Zhou described. Many places rely on dirty flour paste to eat and drink their fill.
“Many of them were so hungry that they had bloated stomachs.
“The ground and trees had not a single piece of greenery left. That scene…” Gu Chengrui shook his head and did not want to continue.
“Our county still has mixed grain flour, but other places… are way worse off than us.”
“It can’t be helped. I heard today that the north also suffered from a snowstorm.
“After the new year, there have already been several conflicts, and a war will break out at any time.”
“The country is filled with internal and external troubles.”
“That’s right. But how can we fight a war if we don’t even have any rations?
“The feeling of being a slave to a fallen country is not going to be good.”
Zhou Ying was silent after hearing this. Although she had never experienced it, she had watched many war films, so she knew the hardships of being a slave in a fallen country.
It was a pity that they could only guard a treasure mountain and couldn’t think of any way to provide more food to the masses.
Zhou Ying sat in Gu Chengrui’s arms and said, “Don’t overthink about it. We just need to live our lives well.”
“Yeah.” Gu Chengrui rubbed his head against her forehead and stopped thinking about it.
The problem was that he couldn’t care about anything anyway. Thinking more would only cause trouble for himself.
“By the way, is the birthday of this body of yours on the 18th of May?”