How to salvage sour dough.
Mei Qian also wanted to know the answer to this question.
She had always been well aware of her own cooking skills, but it seemed the rest of her family had no clue.
【Xiao Mei, will this really not taste terrible?】
Mei Qian stared at the dough that emitted a faint sour smell even when held in her hand, feeling utterly miserable inside.
Xiao Mei: 【If it’s cooked through, it should be edible, but it definitely won’t taste good. I will reject your upload and exchange request, Host.】
Xiao Mei’s meaning was clear:
You eat it yourself, but please don’t inflict it on Exchangers from other Planes.
Mei Qian sighed in distress, rubbing her forehead. She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but after being drenched in the heavy rain, she felt somewhat unwell.
Just as she was thinking this, she heard sniffles nearby—and quite a few of them at that.
Mei Qian carefully observed her entire family. It seemed everyone had developed some symptoms of catching a cold.
In ancient times, a common cold could easily turn fatal if not taken seriously.
If they didn’t have something nourishing for today’s meal, their bodies might not hold up, and they’d all be bedridden by tonight.
With this in mind, Mei Qian secretly swapped the spoiled flour in her hands for a packet of High-Energy Milk Tea Powder she had previously exchanged through the System.
Although it couldn’t cure illnesses, it could replenish energy in the short term. Given that they had been traveling all day, getting drenched in the rain, and catching a chill, their bodies were undoubtedly weakened.
This High-Energy Milk Tea was absolutely perfect for the situation. On top of that, Mei Qian felt it was time to teach her grandma a “lesson.”
Not only did she take out the High-Energy Milk Tea Powder, but she also added the three drops of Floral Nectar exchanged from the Half-blood Elf into the pot while cooking.
Since Mei Qian diluted it with plenty of water, the rich aroma of the milk tea was significantly muted.
Coupled with the fact that everyone in the family had stuffy noses and couldn’t smell properly, the fragrance of the milk tea went largely unnoticed for the time being.
While the soup (tea) was simmering, the symptoms of the Lao Mei Family members began to worsen. Even Mei Qian felt her nose becoming increasingly congested.
After distributing the steaming hot soup to everyone, they all began drinking it without a second thought. Han Shi was the first to react.
“Ah! This noodle soup actually tastes quite fragrant!”
Before anyone else could chime in, Mei Qian tilted her head and said:
“Really? I feel like it tastes a bit sour, and the flavor is just average. Auntie, maybe your sense of taste has changed because you caught a cold? You mentioned earlier that your nose was stuffy, and you were coughing.”
As she spoke, Mei Qian deliberately smacked her lips thoughtfully and asked, “Grandma, isn’t that right? When you catch a cold, the taste of food feels off, doesn’t it?”
“Hmm, that’s true.”
After hearing Mei Qian’s words, Grandma Mei also began to suspect that her own sense of taste had been affected by the cold.
Seeing that even Grandma Mei agreed, no one doubted whether Mei Qian’s noodle soup had any special flavor. Even Han Shi swallowed her doubts and quietly smacked her lips again, murmuring to herself with delight:
“If only my sense of taste changed every time I encountered something unpleasant to eat~”
Hearing this, Mei Qian, holding her bowl, twitched the corner of her mouth.
Her aunt really was something else—for the sake of food, she’d even curse her own health. What a tough woman~
As the high-energy milk tea went down, everyone’s bodies gradually warmed up. The warmth radiating from within refreshed the entire Lao Mei Family.
Just as the chill was being driven from their bodies, someone’s stomach rumbled first, followed by the entire Lao Mei Family embarking on their “detoxification” mission in the wilderness.
“Could it be that we ate something bad?”
Mei Qian, having mentally prepared herself beforehand, was the first to finish and return. She boiled another pot of hot water for everyone, waiting for the others to come back.
When almost everyone had returned, she voiced the question above.
Hearing Mei Qian’s words, Han Shi immediately responded:
“Qian girl, are you saying there was something wrong with the dinner you made?”
“Perhaps. After all, the sour and unappetizing flour Grandma gave didn’t seem edible.” Mei Qian specifically reminded everyone that the flour she used for dinner had been given by Grandma Mei.
Grandma Mei flushed with embarrassment. She hadn’t expected that the food she couldn’t bear to waste would turn out like this.
“Today, we were lucky—it was just diarrhea. What if something worse happened unintentionally later?”
Mei Qian understood Grandma Mei’s frugal mindset, but some spoiled or rotten things truly shouldn’t be consumed.
Before she time-traveled, she had read a news story about an elderly woman’s frugality nearly wiping out an entire village.
Coincidentally, she had used the detoxifying properties of the Floral Nectar to teach everyone a harmless but impactful lesson.
This was far better than regretting it later when real problems arose from eating spoiled food.
Hearing Mei Qian’s words, Grandma Mei’s gaze naturally fell on the campfire.
There, placed nearby, were the damp, clumped, and sour-smelling lumps of dough.
Grandma Mei’s eyes were filled with struggle.
Seeing this, Mei Qian added fuel to the fire: “Given our family’s current situation, we can’t afford to get sick or injured. What if we can’t enter the city tomorrow? Life outside won’t be easy.”
As soon as Mei Qian said this, not only Grandma Mei but also Han Shi, who was standing nearby, stepped forward and kicked the clumped dough into the fire.
Grandma Mei opened her mouth as if to speak but couldn’t find the words, finally letting out a sigh: “Ah, after saving and scrimping every day, not a single bite was eaten before it was wasted by the rain!”
Losing food without even tasting it was like cutting flesh from Grandma Mei’s body. She even remarked that people had become too delicate these days, recalling how during her famine escape years, she had even eaten dirt.
To this, Mei Qian could only silently give Grandma Mei a thumbs-up in her heart while vowing never to sink to the point of eating dirt.
“By the way, where’s Erhu?”
After speaking, Grandma Mei looked around at the family and suddenly realized someone was missing.
At this moment, Mei Qian also noticed. They turned to Mei Shitou, who shook his head—he hadn’t been with Mei Erhu when they were relieving themselves earlier.
Just as everyone was about to go look for Mei Erhu, he returned with a troubled expression.
Before anyone could ask where he had been, Mei Erhu spoke up: “On my way back, I happened to run into Steward Chen San. He talked to me for a while.”
“What did he say?”
“He asked if our family wanted to continue traveling with theirs.”
As soon as Mei Erhu said this, Mei Qian and Grandma Mei immediately understood the underlying meaning of Steward Chen San’s words—
The Chen family was about to part ways with them here, more specifically, they did not intend to take them into the city.
“Does he have a way to get our family into the city?”
Grandma Mei tentatively asked this question.
Mei Erhu nodded, but before the whole family could rejoice, he added, “Steward Chen’s meaning is for us to sign into servitude, so we can enter the city with the Chen family.”
“What?!”
Grandma Mei almost couldn’t suppress her voice, widening her eyes as she looked at Mei Erhu and said, “You didn’t already agree, did you?”
“Mother, what are you saying? How could I dare agree without your consent? I only said I’d consider it.”
As Mei Erhu spoke, he kept glancing at Grandma Mei, whose face had turned dark, and asked, “Mother, what do you think?”
“Don’t even think about it. Once you enter servitude, not only will life and death be entirely in the hands of the master, but future generations will also be enslaved. Are you out of your mind? Why would you choose to be a slave when you could remain a free citizen?”
Mei Qian naturally wouldn’t agree to the proposal either. The Chen family’s offer was no different from taking advantage of their desperation.
However, since they were neither relatives nor friends, if they truly wanted to enter the city, it was impossible not to pay a price. It was just that the price the Chen family demanded was far too steep.
“Steward Chen said something like ‘Better to be a dog in times of peace than a man in times of war,’ and he also mentioned that after they enter the city tomorrow, they won’t come out again. If we regret it later, it’ll be difficult to get into the city.”
As Mei Erhu spoke, he observed Grandma Mei’s expression and continued, “Steward Chen also said that more and more people will gather outside the city later, and it’ll be easy for trouble to arise…”
After finishing, Mei Erhu saw that his mother’s initial anger had gradually subsided.
“Tomorrow morning, we’ll set off as well.”
As soon as Grandma Mei finished speaking, the family’s eyes lit up.
They still remembered that Grandma Mei had said from the beginning that she had connections for what to do next once they reached Mingcheng.
Hearing Grandma Mei say this, everyone’s hearts settled back into their stomachs. Han Shi, smiling, supported Grandma Mei, flattering her loudly:
“It’s all thanks to Mother’s wisdom, otherwise our family wouldn’t know what to do now~”
“Hmph~”
Grandma Mei quite enjoyed her eldest daughter-in-law’s flattery. Slowly sitting down, she met Mei Qian’s somewhat distracted gaze.
“What’s wrong, Qian girl?”
“Nothing, I just figured something out earlier.”
Mei Qian stared at the boiling water and continued along the lines of what Han Shi had said: “Auntie is right. If it weren’t for Grandma’s insight, others who heard Steward Chen’s offer would surely be at a loss.”
As soon as Mei Qian said this, Grandma Mei straightened her posture and looked at her.
Mei Qian gave a forced smile and said, “Tomorrow morning, I’m afraid many families will follow the Chen family into the city, won’t they?”
It was only now that she understood why the people the Chen family took in and sheltered were much more varied compared to other families.
It turned out that they had their eyes on people like them from the very beginning.