Suddenly, the attention of the entire family shifted to her.
Mei Qian felt a sense of awkwardness, as if she had been daydreaming during a meeting, abruptly called out by her boss, and then stared at by all her colleagues.
“Well… let’s just try to get more food? The journey south is long and arduous. In the end, having enough provisions is what gives us confidence.”
For the moment, Mei Qian couldn’t come up with any better suggestions.
Firstly, she had just transmigrated here and was immediately faced with fleeing from disaster.
In this regard, Mei Qian had absolutely no experience. She had no idea what would happen next, and simply ensuring her own survival was already a challenge.
Secondly, the only advantage her System could offer was food, so Mei Qian naturally wanted to maximize its use.
However, after sharing her thoughts, Mei Qian’s mind stirred, and she turned to Grandma Mei, asking, “Grandma, you didn’t completely rule out the possibility of entering the city earlier. Is there… another way?”
Impressed by Mei Qian’s alertness and quick-wittedness, Grandma Mei looked at her with even more affection.
Hearing Mei Qian’s question, the others also turned their attention to Grandma Mei, but this time, she didn’t answer immediately.
Grandma Mei only said, “We’ll talk about it when the time comes. I don’t want anyone accidentally spilling the beans along the way.”
They still had many days ahead on their journey to Mingcheng, and with so many people around, it was easy for things to be overheard. Grandma Mei didn’t consider herself particularly clever; she simply had the advantage of living longer and having more experience.
The situation of fleeing south to Mingcheng might be noticed and spread by observant people in a few days. Once that happened, who wouldn’t try to gather information?
Grandma Mei truly didn’t trust everyone in the family to know about this, fearing that someone might be tricked into revealing it.
Hearing that Grandma Mei was unwilling to share the details, the family felt anxious and unsettled, as if left hanging.
Mei Qian, however, noticed the confidence in Grandma Mei’s tone when she spoke later, suggesting that her grandmother had some plan in mind.
With someone taking charge of the matter, Mei Qian, who was already feeling somewhat drowsy, relaxed. As her drowsiness returned, she leaned against Madam Jiang and fell asleep.
Seeing this, Madam Jiang gently adjusted the thin blanket they shared, covering Mei Qian a little more.
···
“Strange, I’m still not hungry even now.”
As dawn broke, the large group of refugees began moving again, walking until noon before stopping to rest.
Mei Qian was still boiling water when she heard her aunt say this.
“I’m not hungry either.”
Mei Erhu felt the same way.
As a representative of the age where “a half-grown boy eats his father out of house and home,” Mei Shitou chimed in, “Me too. I’m not hungry at all right now.”
If only one person in the family had said this, it might not have been noteworthy. But with so many people claiming not to be hungry, Grandma Mei and Madam Jiang also paid closer attention and were surprised to find that they, too, felt the same way.
They had been traveling since morning and hadn’t eaten anything yet.
“Second Sister, what about you? Are you hungry?”
“No.”
Mei Qian also shook her head. Seeing the family’s curious expressions, as if they had discovered something new, she knew it was the work of the Compressed Biscuit.
“Maybe we ate too much last night?” At this moment, Mei Erhu suddenly brought up the meal Mei Qian had prepared the previous night, saying, “Little Qian’s meal yesterday was both delicious and filling.”
“If eating one full meal means you don’t need to eat for several more, I think that’s pretty good too. Why don’t we do this from now on?”
Auntie was also very satisfied with last night’s dinner. Hearing Second Uncle say this, she fully believed it and even suggested that Mei Qian continue doing this in the future.
Eating one full meal and not feeling hungry for several more—wasn’t that better than spreading it out and having bland, watery soup every meal?
Grandma Mei, however, muttered with some doubt. Could eating one very full meal really mean you wouldn’t need to eat for many meals afterward?
But in ancient times, there was no scientific debunking, so Grandma Mei’s doubts remained unresolved.
Moreover, the whole family’s real experience was right there. As a result, no one objected to the idea of Mei Qian making one meal that would keep everyone full and not hungry for several more.
They believed it, but Mei Qian felt guilty!
After all, Compressed Biscuits couldn’t be exchanged every time. Just in case, Mei Qian added a precautionary note:
“How about this: each time we eat, we try to eat as much as we can. When we start feeling hungry, we’ll wait until the next mealtime to cook.”
She didn’t set the “one meal lasts several” rule in stone. If they were hungry, they’d cook; if not, they wouldn’t eat.
This suggestion naturally gained everyone’s agreement.
Unexpectedly, the two packets of Compressed Biscuit Powder mixed with a little whole wheat flour and wild vegetables to make a vegetable porridge lasted until the morning of the third day before the family felt hungry.
In other words, that one meal kept them full for a whole day and night!
What kind of incredibly filling meal was this?
This astonishing discovery made Grandma Mei suspect that the family might have been so hungry they’d passed the point of feeling it.
But the previous day, everyone had been energetic and full of spirit despite the long journey, with no dizziness or weakness from prolonged lack of food.
However, not eating didn’t mean Mei Qian’s family did nothing else during their rest.
As Mei Qian had said that night, having food in hand always gave them a sense of security.
The refugee crowd was also divided into layers. Families like theirs, with a donkey carrying their belongings, were considered relatively well-off among the refugees. The people around them were mostly in similar situations.
But among the outermost refugees, some had already reached the point of having nothing to eat.
“We haven’t been able to dig up any wild vegetables these past few days.”
Han Shi tossed a nearly empty bag in front of Mei Qian. Mei Qian glanced at the few thin, withered wild vegetables inside, and her expression darkened.
Over the past few days, they had noticed that edible things they could scavenge from the ground were becoming increasingly scarce.
The proportion of wild vegetables in Mei Qian’s vegetable porridge had been decreasing over the past two days. Although they could still be placed in the trading Platform, the amount of Compressed Biscuits exchanged for them had also decreased.
So far, Mei Qian was still three trades away from reaching ten.
Among these many trades, aside from the first interstellar Exchanger, all the others had been with that post-apocalyptic Exchanger.
Gradually, Mei Qian realized that the post-apocalyptic Exchanger was particularly fond of the wild vegetables from her side.
So these days, Mei Qian had been urging Auntie to dig for wild vegetables together.
But wild vegetables were becoming harder and harder to find. Even the old, tough ones that were hard to chew were gone.
Looking at the batter she had prepared early today, Mei Qian felt that the meager quality of the few wild vegetables boiled in the pot probably wouldn’t attract that post-apocalyptic Exchanger anymore.
Since she couldn’t attract the post-apocalyptic Exchanger, it was time to change her target!
With that thought, Mei Qian placed the pot over the fire to heat it up.
This time, she didn’t add any water. Instead, she poured the prepared batter directly into the pot, producing a sizzling sound.
She spread the batter evenly across the pan, drizzled a little water along the edges, and then covered the pot with a lid. She also deliberately turned down the heat underneath.
Soon, the rich, toasty aroma of grains wafted from the pot. The moment Mei Qian lifted the lid, she sprinkled the pre-chopped wild vegetables and a pinch of salt over the pancake…