Chapter 93

Everyone else was ready and waiting in the courtyard for Charlie and Gabe.

The festive atmosphere of the big market day had everyone in high spirits, their voices filled with excitement and laughter echoing around the yard.

Just then, Gabe poked his head out of the kitchen.

His face looked a bit grim as he called out, "Henry."

Hearing Gabe, everyone turned to the kitchen.

Henry called back, "Is it measured? If it is, let's go."

Gabe hesitated for a moment and said, "You all should come in here."

Henry didn't move, "What's the holdup?"

As Henry stood firm, no one else moved either.

Gabe finally said, "We're out of grain. Come see for yourselves."

Out of grain?

Everyone exchanged bewildered glances.

Henry was the first to head into the kitchen, and the others quickly followed.

Inside, they gathered around the sacks in the corner.

Charlie still held the measuring scoop, looking at Henry with a helpless expression. "Henry, I've checked. This is all the grain we have left."

Everyone stared at the sacks. One person lifted a sack to check.

There was about half a sack of dried sweet potatoes, even less sorghum, and the corn was nearly gone.

Lily asked, "This is all of it? There's nothing else?"

Charlie nodded, "This is everything. There's no more."

Everyone looked around in a daze.

Lily muttered, "We thought there was more…"

Because the grain was distributed in large quantities and they lacked experience in managing their supplies, they hadn't kept track of how much they had consumed or how much was left, always assuming they had plenty.

This complacency led to unplanned meals and frequent waste, causing the grain meant to last until the end of the harvest season to run out early.

Had it not been for the unpalatable coarse grain, it wouldn't have lasted even this long.

Charlie took a deep breath and said, "If we take this coarse grain to trade for fine grain today, what's left won't last more than a few days. Even if we don't trade it, at our usual rate, it won't last a week. The harvest hasn't even begun, and the next distribution isn't until it's over."

Realizing the severity of the situation, everyone's faces grew worried. They all looked to Henry for guidance.

Henry didn't panic but wore a serious expression.

After a moment, Gabe asked, "Henry, what should we do?"

Henry thought for a moment and then said, "Let's get through the festival first. After that, I'll figure something out."

Hearing this, everyone relaxed a bit.

Charlie asked, "Should we still trade for fine grain?"

Henry said confidently, "Yes, trade for it. We'll celebrate the festival properly."

On such a festive day, they couldn't be the only ones in the village missing out on good food.

Henry's firm resolve reassured everyone.

Charlie and Gabe resumed measuring the sorghum into the sack.

Once they finished, the sack was nearly empty.

But for now, they focused on the festival.

They were heading to the market to buy mooncakes, trade coarse grain for fine grain, and bring rapeseed to the oil mill.

Since they had woken up late and took time to prepare, they arrived at the market with the sun high overhead.

The market was unusually crowded, stretching much farther than usual.

As they neared the market, the crowd thickened.

Henry and his group moved with the flow, making their way into the market.

Barely a few steps in, they were hit by a delicious aroma in the air.

Gabe sniffed and exclaimed, "Whoa, what's that smell?"

Others followed suit, sniffing the air and commenting, "Smells amazing. Did a new restaurant open?"

Henry recognized the smell immediately. "That's the scent of zhajiangmian."

More precisely, it was the smell of Summer's zhajiangmian.

It was a smell he knew well.

As he spoke, the others remembered.

Summer and Logan had been running their noodle stand for over two months, something everyone in the village knew, including them.

Though they hadn't visited the stand, they quickly put it together.

Realizing it was Summer and Logan's noodle stand, they continued walking, occasionally glancing at the nearby stalls.

They ran into Flo, someone they knew from the village.

Lily grabbed her arm and asked, "Where are you rushing off to, Flo? Is there something good ahead?"

Flo turned, recognized them, and smiled. "Summer and Logan have their noodle stand up front. We're all going to get a bowl to try."

Grace forced a smile, "Is it really that good?"

Flo replied, "Can't you smell it? We hadn't planned to eat there, but the smell and seeing others eat got us. We decided each family would get a bowl and share it."

Lily let go of Flo's arm, "But don't you need food coupons?"

Flo nodded, "Three ounces of food coupons for a bowl, forty cents with meat, twenty without. We're exchanging coarse grain for fine grain, so we just converted three ounces of coupons. If you don't have coupons, you can do the same at the grain station."

Flo excused herself, "I'd love to chat, but we've been craving all morning. Now that we have coupons, we're heading there first."

With that, Flo joined the others heading for the noodle stand.

Henry's group didn't follow.

Grace muttered, "I'm not eating it. It's just noodles…"

The others stayed silent.

Cecilia couldn't help but swallow hard.

Her loud gulp drew their attention.

Cecilia smiled sheepishly, "It just smells so good…"

Since coming to the countryside, she had always craved Summer's cooking.

No one said anything, but they were all thinking about the noodles.

Pretending to browse the other stalls, they moved forward.

As they reached the corner of the market and saw Summer and Logan's stand, they instinctively stopped.

They moved aside to avoid blocking others, unable to resist the allure of the noodle stand.