Since they hadn’t foraged any wild vegetables today, Mei Qian chose to cook the evening millet porridge using the last two milk fruits.
The milky aroma blended with the distinctive fragrance of millet, and this creamy millet porridge naturally gained the System’s approval. The moment it was uploaded to the Exchange Platform, the food was successfully exchanged.
[Host, your #Creamy Millet Porridge# was exchanged by an exchanger from the Primitive Beastman Plane. They traded it for a palm-sized piece of Lulu Beast Jerky.]
Fortunately, when confirming the exchange intention for the food, Mei Qian had carefully added a note: “No fresh fruits or vegetables.”
Otherwise, Mei Qian felt she would likely have received milk fruits again instead of jerky.
For fruits and vegetables that didn’t exist in this world, given that the System’s Space hadn’t been unlocked yet, Mei Qian thought it was best to avoid exchanging for such foods.
But looking at the exchanged jerky, Mei Qian thought to herself: last time it was fruit, this time it was jerky.
What the other party gave wasn’t cooked food.
So Mei Qian speculated a bit: did this exchanger seem to prefer her warm staple foods or stewed dishes?
Thinking this way, Mei Qian reviewed the previous exchanges and realized that most exchangers on the Platform, like her, had preferences for certain types of food.
That was why the same type of food she made could repeatedly attract the same exchanger.
[By the way, is there only one exchanger per Plane?]
Mei Qian suddenly became concerned about this question.
[There’s only one per Plane, but many Planes have similar historical trajectories. So, Host, you might encounter similar Planes with different exchangers in the future~]
Xiao Mei seemed to sense Mei Qian’s worries and specifically explained in detail, emphasizing that each Plane’s exchanger was unique and wouldn’t interfere with each other. This reassured Mei Qian somewhat.
Mei Qian really didn’t want any “competition among peers” situations—life was already hard enough.
After the meal, Mei Erhu went to chat with Steward Chen San again.
Although the high-ranking Junzhu had little to do with commoners like them, some news was still worth hearing, especially for people like them who had been trudging through the wilderness for days and knew little about the outside world.
Meanwhile, Mei Shitou practiced boxing and swordplay around the campsite.
During these days traveling with the Chen family’s group, Mei Shitou had met a few skilled guards and learned a couple of moves from them.
Mei Shitou didn’t expect these moves to accomplish anything grand; he only hoped to have the ability to protect his family if something happened.
Seeing Mei Shitou practice so diligently, Mei Qian watched for a while before picking up a machete herself and trying to imitate her brother’s movements.
The scene of the Xirong soldier slashing down from above was still vivid in Mei Qian’s memory, sometimes even appearing in her nightmares.
If it weren’t for that pot, Mei Qian felt she would have been done for back then.
Madam Jiang watched Mei Qian’s actions but didn’t stop her. Instead, she sat with her sister-in-law, twisting straw ropes.
She planned to weave some straw sandals.
After all these days, the shoes on their family’s feet were worn beyond recognition.
When they left home, they were all wearing their best shoes, but even so, after more than a month of traveling, those shoes were nearly worn out.
This morning, she had noticed that the soles of Mei Erhu’s shoes were completely worn through, and even the uppers had a hole in them.
When he walked, his big toe and the one next to it would take turns poking out through the hole.
After that, Madam Jiang began paying attention to the feet of the other family members, and the situation was much the same.
By the time Mei Erhu returned from gathering news, Madam Jiang had already shaped the soles of the straw sandals she was making.
“I heard that Yunzhong City in the west has completely fallen, and all the defending soldiers and officers died for their country…”
Mei Erhu’s voice was very low when he spoke.
Mei Qian noticed that he looked downcast, his eyes slightly red, as if he had been crying earlier.
“Before, we heard that the Xirong soldiers were planning to take the main road straight into the pass to the capital.
Yunzhong City was originally the largest checkpoint on the main road from Xing’an Fu to the capital. Now that Yunzhong City has fallen, the western side of Xing’an Fu is completely undefended.”
These weren’t the kind of words a farmer like Mei Erhu would usually say, but he had a good memory. Whatever Steward Chen San said, he remembered.
He repeated it exactly as he heard it when he returned, so that someone in the family would understand.
“I heard that the Junzhu’s father was the defending general of Yunzhong City…”
“Oh heavens, is that true?”
“Of course. They say the Junzhu is now dressed in mourning clothes.”
Mei Erhu spoke with such vivid detail.
Hearing this, the women in the family, who had previously envied the Junzhu, now realized she had become an orphan. They couldn’t help but feel more sympathy for her.
Mei Qian, however, didn’t pay attention to that part. She was preoccupied with the fact that the west was now completely undefended, and the Xirong soldiers could now directly enter the pass and rush toward the capital.
“How long ago did Yunzhong City fall?
For this Junzhu to have fled all the way from the west to here—even if they were riding horses or traveling by carriage, which is faster—it must have taken a while to get here. That means the fall of Yunzhong City must have happened quite some time ago, right?”
When Mei Qian asked this, Mei Erhu scratched his head in confusion. “Brother Chen San didn’t mention that. Is there a problem with that?”
“If the west has fallen and the Xirong soldiers are confirmed to be able to enter the pass and head straight for the capital, then… won’t the Xirong also have to free up their hands to deal with the eastern side of Xing’an Fu, to prepare for the migration of the Xi Rong people here?”
As soon as Mei Qian said this, everyone’s expressions turned pale with fear.
“Qian girl, you mustn’t say such things recklessly!”
Han Shi was greatly startled by Mei Qian’s words. Just earlier in the day, everyone had heard that once they passed Yixian Gorge, they could relax a little and not be so fearful.
But now, with Mei Qian’s words, the mood of those present plummeted into despair.
“I’m not saying it recklessly. I’m just making a guess based on what’s happened.”
If something good happened, would Mei Qian be willing to talk about the bad things?
“Even a girl like Qian can think of this. Those wealthy families are full of smart people—they must have thought of it too. They’ll surely have a plan. We just need to follow along properly~”
Grandma Mei was both shocked and frightened by Mei Qian’s words. But no matter how anxious or scared she felt, she realized that with her own limited knowledge, she couldn’t solve the problem Mei Qian was worried about. So, Grandma Mei quickly regained her composure.
In a word, when something big happens, the tall ones should take the lead.
“Tomorrow during our rest on the road, eldest daughter-in-law, you come with me to dig for wild vegetables. We must seize the opportunity first!”
Since Grandma Mei couldn’t figure out the problem, she stopped dwelling on it. Instead, everyone should focus on what needed to be done now.
For example—continue digging for wild vegetables.
“We can’t just sit back and eat without working,” Grandma Mei said, her expression turning serious as she recalled the day’s events. “Not only did we not dig up a single vegetable today, but we also consumed five liang of millet. Tomorrow, we must dig enough wild vegetables to make up for it.”
“Alright!”
Han Shi was a great mood-setter; she agreed with whatever her mother-in-law said.
But no one expected that, just because they were rushing to dig for wild vegetables, this would lead the Lao Mei Family to dig up a bunch of strange things…