110 Silent at meals

Shen Tang has been rather unhappy these past few days.

In various senses of the word.

Back in Xiaocheng, even when bored, she could set up a stall, sell some wine, take a stroll. But in the deep mountains and old forests, apart from a gang of bandits, there was nothing. Life is lonely as snow; she felt that if she continued to be idle like this, she would definitely grow moldy.

"Wulang is really boring, better off helping with the militia training."

Shen Tang rejected without hesitation: "Absolutely not, from far away I could smell the soaring stench of sweat. A day's worth of exercise far exceeds the total for a year of a typical homebody..."

She didn't even run to watch Uncle Wu's military training.

After watching for a while, even Ah Zhai felt "chilled to the bone."

To call it military training was truly an exaggeration; the scale was even smaller than the square dancing troupe of the elderly downstairs in the neighborhood. In simple terms, it was a sparse gathering of dozens of people, learning basic movements like chopping and stabbing under Uncle Wu's command.

Repeating the same action hundreds of times was commonplace.

Morning for skills, afternoon for physical fitness.

And back to the same routine the next morning.

This intensity was simply unbearable for ordinary people.

There were some who objected, but the result was Uncle Wu pinching their throats with two fingers, directly killing a chicken to scare the monkeys, stating that if anyone couldn't withstand it, they could choose to end their own lives. They were all captives, and captives shouldn't talk back; were they tired of living?

After the deaths of two chickens, the remaining monkeys were as quiet as chickens.

These monkeys gradually realized that the people training them were very ruthless. If they didn't obey orders, Uncle Wu wouldn't care whether one or two of them died, or if all of them died. If they obeyed orders, they would definitely have enough to eat.

Two full meals a day, with plenty of breakfast and supper, plus three extra meals to supplement their physical fitness to cope with high-intensity training. They comforted themselves that they were just working for the landlord, and training was part of the job. Isn't it only natural to get more tired the more food you have?

When bandits or ruffians were hungry, two meals were enough. Meeting hard times, it was common to tighten one's belt. Now, being able to eat their fill was quite good.

Through a series of brainwashing, they gradually adapted.

They even used these words to brainwash those around them.

Those who were restless, seeing that no one stood up to cater to them, found themselves isolated, naturally became timid. They would rather be alive than dead; they didn't want to experience Uncle Wu's two fingers or have their necks stiffened...

"Go help in the East Kitchen," Chu Yao said. "There's not enough food stored, and that fellow Qishan has no idea how long he'll linger in Xiaocheng."

Making big pancakes!

This was Shen Tang's specialty.

She was responsible for making the pancakes, while Lin Feng was responsible for putting the pancakes into clean bamboo baskets, neatly arranging them, and keeping count. The first time Lin Feng saw this skill, she was truly surprised for a long time. "Can literary talent also conjure up food?"

Halfway through, Shen Tang got hungry and stuffed a pancake into her mouth, muttering vaguely, "Yes, but one sentence of literary talent produces one pancake. It's no problem to supply dozens or even hundreds of people, but more than that won't work. Not to mention the consumption of literary air, just speaking literary words can make my throat burn."

Just as Qishan said, it was rather anticlimactic.

"But being able to eat your fill is already very good," Lin Feng said.

During a famine, grass roots and bark were not enough to go around. When extremely hungry, even mud could be stuffed into one's mouth, or one could resort to cannibalism.

Her own husband was really quite extraordinary.

Shen Tang laughed heartily, "I also think so."

A bamboo basket could probably hold fifty pancakes.

Lin Feng had no problem counting them, covering the basket with a layer of clean, coarse white gauze to prevent dust, and then sending them to the East Kitchen. These cakes were cut into pieces and cooked in soup. Since there were no vegetables, the kitchen maids were preparing to use green plum pulp instead...

No matter how it tasted, it was still better than plain soup. Shen Tang said, "I wonder if there are any wild boars in the mountains. If we catch a few piglets and raise them, when they grow up, we'll have meat to eat? We can even render oil."

Drinking the slightly sour pancake soup, Shen Tang suddenly thought of pigs, then from pigs to braised ribs, braised pig's feet, sweet and sour pork tenderloin, Mei Cai Kourou… a series of dishes. She licked her lips, feeling saliva secrete as she imagined the dishes.

If all else failed...

She remembered that pork lard mixed with rice was also quite tasty.

"Boar? I've heard it tastes very gamey..."

Her household servants said that it was something only ordinary poor people would eat; once they had a little money, they wouldn't choose it. Sheep, chicken, and dog were all better than boar. It was said that their meat had an indescribable gaminess, and the oil rendered from them also had an odor.

Lin Feng had never eaten it before.

No, none of the servants in her mansion ate it.

Just as she finished speaking, she remembered her current situation; even if she wanted to taste pork, she might not be qualified. She silently stopped talking. Shen Tang tactfully changed the subject, "But I heard that pork tastes gamey because they're not castrated. If they were castrated before being raised, the taste would be very, very fragrant."

Lin Feng asked again, "How long does it take to raise them?"

"Should be just a few months after being castrated?" Shen Tang wasn't very sure.

"A few months is a few months?" Lin Feng was very serious.

"I don't know, I'll find out if I have the chance to raise them." Shen Tang replied.

"How big can they grow in such a short time?" Lin Feng inquired.

Shen Tang pondered thoughtfully, "I heard that castrated pigs are very lazy, without the stimulation of hormones, they don't like to move or fight, they're lazy all day long, and they get fat quickly without moving, right?"

Hmm, humans are the same.

Lin Feng was curious, "Where did the master hear these principles?"

If pork could be raised in this way without tasting gamey, it would be highly welcomed by the people. This could even be considered a family secret; without intimate relationships, how could one easily tell others?

And how could the master deal with such people?

Shen Tang didn't know where she had heard it, but it wasn't important anyway. The important thing was that she knew.

To catch a few piglets, she thought to herself, and after a few months, braised ribs, braised pig's feet, sweet and sour pork tenderloin,

 Mei Cai Kourou...

There was hope for all of them to appear on her dining table!

Saying she would raise them, Shen Tang was prepared to try her luck in the afternoon.

After taking a sip of pancake soup, she suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, oh, and pigs shouldn't be raised near latrines, they must be kept separate from them... it seems to, seems to prevent some kind of parasitic disease? Let me think... yes! That's right! Tapeworm disease!"

Lin Feng asked, "What kind of disease is tapeworm disease?"

"A disease where tapeworms grow in the body."

"...Then why do pigs eat human feces?"

Shen Tang guessed, "Probably to save on feed? But this kind of farming isn't very hygienic. If pigs eat the eggs of parasites from human feces, they'll grow cysticerci. When these pigs are eaten by people, long, long, long, long, long white worms will grow out, which is very scary!"

Pigs raised on human feces, entering the human body again, rounding up and rounding down, people eating human feces? Lin Feng looked at the pancake soup in her bowl, her face changing again and again, her throat rolling, as if she could already smell an odor.

Lin Feng barely suppressed her unease: "How terrible is it?"

Shen Tang gestured with both hands, "Let me think... have you ever seen a tapeworm? That thing looks almost like a tapeworm, thinner than a tapeworm, the shortest one is as short as a finger joint, the longest can be five or six zhang long. With such long things crawling around inside you, creeping everywhere from your internal organs along your neck and throat, and finally crawling into your brain..."

Lin Feng's face turned pale just thinking about it.

With a cry of "Ah!" Lin Feng stopped eating chopsticks helplessly, as did Chu Yao and Uncle Wu on the side.

"Wulang..."

Silent at meals, can't we avoid speaking during meals?

And when we do speak, can't we avoid such disgusting topics?

Shen Tang: No, we can't |ω｀)