Chapter 6 – 6: Borrowing Grain
Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Borrowing Grain
After Lu Qing got home, faced with the eager eyes of the little rascals, he didn’t dawdle and started distributing the fish right away.
He picked two banana leaves from behind the small courtyard and cut them into pieces.
He gave each little rascal a handful of fish—no more than half a pound each, roughly.
Although it wasn’t much, the kids were thrilled.
Having received the fish, each of them ran home gleefully as if they had obtained some treasure.
Seeing that Lu Qing had finished distributing the fish, some villagers approached him.
“Lu Qing, how did you fish for these? How did you catch so many all at once?”
“It was just luck,” Lu Qing smiled. “Perhaps it’s because the bait I used is particularly attractive to the fish.”
“What bait did you use?”
“Just the common earthworm from the fields.”
Lu Qing didn’t keep it a secret and told the truth.
After all, even if he didn’t say it, it wouldn’t take long for people in the village to find out.
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Especially since there were a bunch of little rascals watching him fish.
If that was the case, it was better to be upfront about it rather than having others accuse him of being stingy.
“Earthworms, can you actually use those for fishing?” The villagers were amazed.
“Of course, and the fish really like them.”
Lu Qing was not surprised that the villagers didn’t know earthworms could be used for fishing.
From the original owner’s memories, he speculated that he was now in a world similar to ancient China.
In such an old and feudal era, transportation was inconvenient, and information was scarce.
People tended to be cautious and conservative towards new things and were not likely to try them easily.
What is common knowledge in one place might become a rarity in another.
It was normal that no one in the village excelled at fishing, so they didn’t know that fish liked earthworms.
“I never knew fish liked to eat earthworms; no wonder everyone had little success fishing in the past—it was because we used the wrong bait,” a villager exclaimed.
“Lu Qing, did your dad tell you this method?”
Lu Qing hesitated for a moment then nodded: “My dad mentioned it once, and I just remembered it. Today, Little Yan kept saying she was hungry, and we had nothing to eat at home, so I thought of this method and decided to give it a try—I didn’t expect to actually catch fish.”
Hearing this, that villager paused and then looked at Little Yan.
The little one was squatting by the bucket watching the fish, felt the villager’s gaze, raised her head, and immediately flashed him a big smile.
The villager’s heart softened immediately, and he looked at the frail Lu Qing with pity.
“So, what will you do next? You can’t just eat fish all the time, can you? How could your stomach handle that?”
“I was thinking of discussing this with a few uncles,” Lu Qing said earnestly. “The uncles know my family’s current situation—we literally have no rice at home, so I wanted to borrow some grain and cooking essentials from them. After a few days, when I find some work, I will definitely return it double.”
“What are you talking about? Do you think the uncles are the kind to kick you while you’re down? We’re all from the same village—it’s only right to support each other. It’s just a bit of grain. Uncle Shan will bring some to you right away!”
Moved, the villager spoke loudly.
Having said this, the other villagers naturally felt compelled to offer their help too.
“Right, it’s just a bit of grain—I’ll go and get some for you right now!”
“I bought extra salt at the market at the beginning of the month; I can spare some for you.”
“It’s just oil; we still have plenty at home—I’ll go and get some for you in a bit!”
The villagers were thumping their chests in a generous manner.
Lu Qing was overjoyed: “Thank you so much, uncles!”
“Lu Qing, hang on a minute, I’ll go home and bring you some grain.”
Uncle Shan headed out immediately, and several other villagers also made their way home.
Before long, they all gathered in Lu Qing’s courtyard.
“Here, take this half bag of rice for you and Little Yan to eat first. If you run out, ask Uncle Shan for more!”
“Lu Qing, this half jar of lard should last you a while, right?”
“Here’s half a bamboo tube of salt for you to use.”
“I’ve got a few flatbreads my wife baked this morning. They’ll keep for a while. Eating one can stave off hunger for a long time. Will that be enough?”
Seeing the items the villagers brought, Lu Qing was inexplicably grateful.
He bowed repeatedly, “That’s enough, that’s enough, thank you, uncles!”
After speaking, he scooped up several handfuls of small fish from the barrel and divided them into portions.
With this, most of the fish in the wooden barrel were gone in an instant.
“This bit of fish, uncles, take it back and give it a taste.”
Uncle Shan and the others waved their hands hurriedly, “How can we do that? You just went through the effort to catch them. Keep them for yourself and Little Yan.”
“I can’t eat all these fish by myself. And now that the weather is hot, the fish won’t keep for long. Without chickens or ducks at home, the fish would just go bad. Just consider it helping me out so they don’t go to waste.”
With no further discussion, Lu Qing stuffed the fish wrapped in leaves into the villagers’ hands.
“Well… okay then, we won’t stand on ceremony.”
The villagers had initially felt a pang of regret for giving away some of their stored grain, but having received the fish, they immediately felt much better.
After seeing the uncles off, Lu Qing breathed a sigh of relief.
He felt somewhat fortunate.
Thank goodness the people in the village were simple and honest. Otherwise, he wouldn’t dare ask for food so freely.
With the food they now had, he and Little Yan wouldn’t have to worry about what to eat for the next ten days or so.
Having this buffer period, he could also properly explore ways to survive in this world.
“Brother, this pancake smells so good!”
Lu Qing was deep in thought when he suddenly heard Little Yan’s comment.
Looking down, he saw the little one squatting on the ground, drooling over the flatbread one of the villagers had brought.
He walked over, tore a small piece of the pancake, and placed it in Little Yan’s hand.
“Be good, Little Yan, eat this piece of pancake. Your brother will cook some rice now.”
“Okay, Little Yan understands!”
Little Yan obediently nodded, took the pancake, and happily started nibbling on it.
Having calmed the little one, Lu Qing also started to get busy in the kitchen.
He began by rinsing rice to steam it, then caught about half a pound of small fish, gutted and cleaned them.
When he was ready to fry the fish, Lu Qing realized a problem.
There was no pot in the kitchen to cook with.
Recalling for a moment, he remembered.
The house did have an iron pot before, but it had been sold by the previous occupant in exchange for food.
So now, the house only had a clay pot for cooking rice, but no pot for cooking meals.
Sighing, Lu Qing had no choice but to find an alternative, fetching a fairly flat thin slab of stone from outside the yard, cleaning it thoroughly, and then slowly heating it over the fire.
Once the stone slab was searing hot, Lu Qing carefully scooped a small spoonful of solidified lard from a clay jar brought by one of the villagers.
The lard sizzled upon touching the hot stone slab, quickly melting down, instantly releasing a fragrant aroma of oil.