Chapter 52: Grinding

Chapter 52: Grinding

The riverbank was littered with acorn shells, some of which had been thrown into the fire and burned as firewood.

The place where you stand is filled with buckets and basins filled with soaked acorn kernels, so people have to walk very carefully.

Lin Zisu and the others returned to their place of residence, just as Lin Youcai and his companions were returning from the county town in a mule cart.

Seeing the mule cart stop, Lin Zisu waved happily to her father, "Dad, we have borrowed the millstone."

Lin Youcai's eyes lit up, "Really? Where did you borrow it from?"

"It's the village in front not far from the official road. There's a big tree with a red ribbon hanging on it. It's called Changqing Village. The old man there is named Li."

The six people who came back looked at the people busy packing nuts, and their mood of not getting a good harvest in the county town became cheerful.

"Dad, how is the county town? Is it big? Are there many shops?" Lin Zisu looked at the two bags of coarse grains and two small bags of coarse salt unloaded from the car. "The prices are soaring? Don't you have money to buy?"

Lin Youcai: "No money to buy and rising prices are one reason, but the main point is that there is nothing to buy."

Tao Mingyuan shook his head and lowered his voice and said, "I'm not bragging, but compared to Nan County, this county town is like a village."

Lin Zisu: “Ah?”

Lin Xianwen leaned over to listen: "This little bit... is better than nothing, right? Huh? I finally got into the city, this..."

Lin Youxing: "The four of us failed to enter the city. Only Brother Cai and Brother Mingyuan entered."

Lin Zisu: "Okay..."

"Let's not talk about this anymore. The important thing is to grind out the acorn kernels." Lin Youcai said as he signaled Lin Zisu to drive the RV, and several of them moved the kernels that were soaked in water from the RV's bathroom down.

Everyone took the luggage out of the carriage, poured out the water that contained the acorn kernels, loaded the acorn kernels and basins into the car, and headed for Changqing Village.

Lin Zisu looked at the convoy going away and said, "Last night was really exciting! We peeled all the acorns!"

Lin Xianwen: "There are more than 300 of us! More than 200 people went out to pick acorns, and we brought back thousands of kilograms of acorns from the mountains. Let's not say there were more than 300 people peeling acorns last night, but there were more than 200 people peeling acorns! It was very fast! The sack was flying! Uncle Tao and Dad took turns to watch in the middle of the night to weigh the kernels and record the work points. You and mom were sleeping so well that you didn't know what time it was!"

Lin Zisu shook her head. "The more work, the more pay. They deserve these work points! My mother and I can't afford to take them away!"

Lin Xianwen: "Thousands of kilograms of acorns, after removing the shells, there should be at least more than a thousand kilograms of kernels! Grind them into pulp, precipitate them, and the powder should be at least several hundred kilograms!"

"There should be! But there are so many people in the team, I don't think it will last long! Maybe ten days or half a month!" Lin Zisu nodded, feeling a little worried. When will this journey of escape end?

The people of Changqing Village were shocked when they saw a string of cars coming towards the village.

Lin Youcai expressed his understanding, saying that ox carts and mule carts are equivalent to small cars worth more than 100,000 or 200,000 yuan, while horse carriages are equivalent to luxury cars.

It was very difficult for ordinary people to have a livestock at home, let alone a livestock and a carriage. The carriage was also very expensive, not much cheaper than the livestock.

Looking at the six ox and mule carts, the people of Changqing Village used to believe 6% when they said the bitter beads were edible. Now they believe 5% and there are still 8% waiting to be cooked and watched them eat.

The villagers of Changqing gathered at the entrance of the village to watch the fun, but Li Lizheng drove them back to the village. They were blocking the way, so how could people come to grind acorns?

The car stopped directly at the gate of the mill, which had already been opened. Everyone got out of the car to carry buckets and basins. Since the mill could not hold them, they placed them on the road in front of the mill.

He led the mule in and harnessed it, swept the millstone with a bundle of straw, and began to grind the acorn kernels.

Three people were busy in the mill, while the old men were guarding the nuts outside. They left an ox cart behind while the others went back to their destination first.

People can't be too scattered, because the luggage at the place of residence is the biggest part. It's not okay for young and middle-aged people to come here, because it's too dangerous for women, children and family belongings.

There are more and more refugees on the road, which is very unsafe.

Everyone took turns to work, and after grinding a few barrels, they would send them back to their settlement by the river.

The longest time these nuts were soaked was only two nights and one day, and most were only soaked for a few hours.

Wait for the pulp to be ground out, settle, and then rinse a few times. Now it's OK as long as it's edible, and no one has the conditions to care whether it tastes good or not.

Lin Zisu looked at the time on her watch. It was past 11 o'clock. There was still time left today, so she could grind out a lot of acorn kernel pulp by dark.

Lin Zisu was bored and looked at her equally bored brother. "Have you ever been to Ancheng?"

Lin Xianwen: "I was a runner at that time, for sure!"

"Alas, I have never been to Ancheng. It was breached not long after I arrived. I fled all the way to Nanxian County, but I never entered Nanxian City. I also never visited Nanlin Village before I set out to flee. I was on the road all the way. It was so hard for people to enter Hanguan City, but I couldn't. By the way, are we illegal residents? Slaves?"

Lin Xianwen: "No, how can we be illegal residents? Even though we were... lost, the Lin family didn't cancel our registration. I asked my parents. What's more, we were abducted and sold into the mansion as slaves. We don't have a household registration at all! We used fake names! Nan County has a proper household registration for good citizens. It's good enough that my parents didn't sue them!"

Lin Zisu thought about it and it made sense. "Not to mention that it is a chaotic world now! We should be more worried about where the future lies!"

Half an hour later, an ox cart came back.

Everyone came forward and carried down buckets of yellow-brown slurry.

Lin Youfu took a few people to cut down a tree trunk as thick as an arm, and built a rectangular wooden frame on the open ground, fixing it with hemp ropes.

Lin Youcai brought the waterproof cloth, and each person pulled a corner of it, put the waterproof cloth on the wooden frame, and tied the four corners to the wooden frame with hemp rope.

A small pool made of waterproof cloth, done.

One person carried a bucket of acorn nut pulp and poured it in. The bucket was put back into the oxcart and taken to Changqing Village. There were only a limited number of buckets and basins. There was no other way. There were too many acorn kernels. This was the only way. We couldn't leave tonight. We would be lucky if we could travel tomorrow.

Large wooden spoons of acorn kernels were poured into the holes of the millstone. The yellowish-brown slurry flowed out along the millstone, into the stone channel, and then into the bucket below.

The mill had already ground several barrels of pulp, and when the bullock cart arrived, the empty barrels were taken down, and the wooden basins and barrels were loaded onto the bullock cart.

Lin Lizheng: "We'll change the cart later, and the people and animals will take turns to work! The mule pulling the mill will grind for another half an hour, and then we'll switch to a cow to pull it."

"Okay, Li Zheng." Zhao Zhuang drove the ox cart, and the two people on the cart held some buckets and basins, and the cart moved towards the destination. The liquid being transported could not be transported quickly.

Fortunately, Changqing Village was not far from the river beach where they settled, so everyone waited on the roadside, ready to move the slurry as soon as the car arrived.

Lin Zisu specially used her own waterproof cloth to fold small buckets, took out two, filled two buckets of slurry and placed them in the bathroom to settle.

The small pool of water under the tarpaulin is too big, and there is too much water. I will use a small bucket to collect some water and let everyone taste it.

After working hard for a few days, no one has tasted the food made with acorn flour.

Lin Zisu's family of four also miss this delicacy.

Why are the family of four so familiar with acorn food? Because they have been exposed to it since childhood. It is a delicacy in their area, and people make and sell acorn snacks every year.

In their previous lives, Shen Xianglan and Lin Youcai went out to study in the countryside, and later stayed in the city to work, buy a house, and start a family. They are very familiar with the food in their hometown, what it is made of, and how it is made, and they have learned a lot from it.