Volume 8: The Sword Points to the Far East Chapter 265 Let go of the chef
Farm No. 1, which has been flooded for almost a week, is the hardest hit by the flood.
Not to mention the complete destruction of fields and houses, after the water receded, the more than 2,000 people on the entire farm had to face a serious problem: there was no clean water available.
Under the scorching summer sun, the earth, which had been soaked for nearly seven days, exuded a faint smell of rot. Rotting plant stems and leaves, insects, birds, and animal carcasses polluted all ponds, canals, rivers, and streams. When Chief Arthur organized people to clean up the reservoir where the farm usually drew water, he fished out several soaked beast carcasses from it...
It is definitely not enough to just collect and filter rainwater, not to mention that it has not rained for three consecutive days after the flood. We have to solve the daily water problem first.
Lieutenant Dana and two snow elf warriors worked hard for two hours, sweating profusely. They dug a large pit one meter deep and more than five meters wide next to the polluted river. They spread fine sand and charcoal powder into the bottom of the pit as required by the snow werewolves, and after the water from the river seeped in, they picked up a large shovel and stirred it frantically.
The three snow elves worked hard in the morning to dig three of these water purification pits next to the flowing water source.
"Thank you for your hard work, thank you so much!" Dahao ran over with a box in his arms, nodded at Dana and the others with a simple smile on his face, and while they were stirring vigorously, he poured alum and chlorite (bleaching agent made from brine) into the clean water pit, then nodded to thank them and continued to run to the next place.
The river water is filtered through soil, sand, gravel and charcoal, and then disinfected with alum and bleach. After sedimentation, it can be used... Of course, according to the experience taught by the Fire Department, it must be boiled for three minutes before it can be drunk.
After helping with the water purification work for the whole morning, Lieutenant Dana finally had a sip of water during the lunch break... The taste was hard to describe (it was the taste of bleach...), but it was much better than not having any water to drink yesterday and having to quench her thirst by drinking canned fruit and eating fresh sweet potatoes.
The snow elves helped with the heavy work, and the snow wolves and the cats did not treat them badly in terms of food. While others were eating bread, the chef of the farm canteen directly gave the six snow elves a pot of fried dumplings stuffed with pork and cabbage, a plate of refreshing cold dishes, and a large dish of candied sweet potatoes.
When he took the sweet potato dessert with beautiful sugar threads out of the basket, the Snow Wolf Chef was a little embarrassed: "Da He is busy, the dessert I made is not as delicious as Da He's."
The snow elves who couldn't help but eat dessert first retorted: "Who said that? The dessert you made is delicious!"
"Yes, this sweet potato is crispy and sweet, so delicious~!"
A plate of sweet potato shreds was snatched up by these guys in an instant. Dana couldn't bear to watch and glared at them: "Stop grabbing snacks, eat the main course first!"
Turning around, Dana gave the Snow Wolf Chef a sweet smile, which was ten times sweeter than the smile she wore as a part-time maid during her vacation. "You are the best chef I have ever seen. The skin of this sweet potato is really delicious and the color is beautiful. I wonder how it was made?"
The chef said happily: "Oh, the secret is to roll it in a little vinegar before frying it, and add potato starch twice, so the color won't turn black, and the skin won't become soft... And be careful not to burn it when boiling the syrup. The color of the syrup looks good, the pulled silk will be beautiful, and the taste will be mellow..."
The five snow elf warriors stared at the lieutenant who was asking for advice on techniques while stuffing candied sweet potatoes into his mouth, but they were angry but dared not say anything.
Fortunately, the fried dumplings were also very delicious, and the snow werewolf chef thoughtfully poured them a bowl of vinegar to dip the dumplings in, which appeased the snow elf warriors' little grievances.
After lunch, the snow elves washed the dishes in a makeshift dishwashing shed and put them into baskets. Then they came out, feeling comfortable in their stomachs, and found two snow werewolf chefs, led by Dahe, walking out with hoes on their shoulders and backpacks on their backs.
"Let go of those two chefs!!" The snow elves glared with their ruby eyes and pointed at Daha angrily in justice.
These people actually treated the chef as a coolie, making him climb up and down and carry extremely heavy farm machinery covered in mud. This is too much!
After the water receded, the two chefs were forced to stand in knee-high sewage to clean up the collapsed bricks and stones. Their precious hands were soaked until they turned white, peeled and covered with scars. This was even more excessive!
...So Daha didn't have to spend much effort and pulled this group of snow elves to continue doing hard labor.
As for being gentle and considerate to women, or thinking that it is too much to use the generally good-looking snow elves as laborers to do dirty and tiring work - that doesn't exist.
Daha himself has broken mud bricks and carried farm fertilizer.
Evelyn, that delicate forest elf and spellcaster, was even sent to repair the road.
The beauty of the river, the carefully crafted sugar-coated bullets of the snow werewolf chefs (feeding them delicious snacks three times a day and diligently changing the menu), and the warm and sincere gratitude of the cats, Lieutenant Dana and five snow elf warriors stayed in the farm for more than a month; not until the ruins of the farm were cleaned up, all the areas soaked in sewage were disinfected and insects were killed, and the big cats were helped to start reconstruction, did they let them go... ahem.
The snow elf, totally unaware that he had been exploited for more than thirty days, carried the gifts given by the snow werewolves and big cats, and walked a long way away, still waving goodbye reluctantly.
Chief Arthur, Dahe and others who came to see them off also waved their arms affectionately.
"It would be great if they could stay here forever. It's such a pity." Chief Arthur looked at the backs of the group of snow elves reluctantly.
The two chefs who came to see them off nodded repeatedly after hearing this. Isn't it true... The snow elves' appetite is slightly bigger than that of the big cats, and they are not as picky as the big cats (big cats don't eat dairy products). However, their labor force is at the level of snow werewolves - at least 30% of the cleanup of the farm ruins was completed by these snow elves!
"They still have to go back to the Ice and Snow King City. Besides, we have almost used up all the excuses (to trick them into working)." Dahaha didn't feel any regrets. He was already taking advantage of them by keeping them for so long. If he didn't take advantage of them enough, something bad would happen~!
Chief Arthur couldn't help but glance at Daha, his mouth twitching slightly.
From the beginning, Da He never mentioned "employment" and in the end he let the man go, and naturally he didn't pay him back...
Of course, with Dahe's "cautious advantage" character, he would not take advantage of people completely. Although he did not pay them wages, he gave them gifts of equivalent value as compensation... that is, condensed milk, honey, fruit sauces, various candies and snacks, etc., which filled six large bags. After all, their labor force was at the level of snow wolves, and they worked for a full month and a few more days. He couldn't feel too bad, right?
Dahe felt that he was very fair, but Chief Arthur felt very awkward. This feeling of mobilizing all the members to deceive a few people and play with others in the palm of the hand was really a bit embarrassing for the honest Chief Arthur...
"But since it works, there's nothing wrong with doing this... Even though I can't do it, at least I won't disturb others from doing their work." Chief Arthur comforted himself and turned his head away to lick his hands.
Well, when big cats are trying to act dumb, they can't help but use instinctive behavior to relieve embarrassment.
Xiao Yun stayed in Valentine for three full months, secretly causing numerous disturbances, before returning with a large army in a dashing manner.
Xiao Yun had just disembarked at the Elf Port and had not had time to catch his breath when he heard Ashu, who was diligently running the food store, say that the tribe had been devastated by a flood. He was completely stunned.
That night, Xiao Yun took a canal boat back to the tribe. When he passed the beet planting base, he saw a large area of bare fields that had just been plowed...
—Where are my beets?! Where are my beets, in fields and fields, with no end in sight! !
Xiao Yun held his head with both hands, his mouth wide open, his facial muscles twitching, and his whole body exuded a sense of grief, despair, and mania, which made the curious Moon of Revenge dare not step forward to talk to him...
Silently walking to the stern of the canal boat, Revenge Moon lowered his voice and whispered to the new student Mr. Sean: "What's wrong with Ah Yun?"
Under the moonlight, Mr. Sean, who was wearing a gray robe and a cloak like Revenge Moon, looked not much different from his "previous life", except that his skin color had become extremely pale, his eyeballs were a little gray and dull, and the palms that stretched out from his sleeves were a little scary thin, and his round nails had become a little sharp.
The change in life form did not change Mr. Sean's open-minded character. He pointed to the west bank of the canal with a smile and said, "This area is the beet planting base of the Fire Tribe. There were originally more than 100,000 acres of beets. You couldn't see them all in half an hour on a boat... But after the flood, they are all gone now."
There was a beet plantation run by a local noble near the Mage Tower of Vengeance Moon. He knew how important beets were for making sugar, and was immediately shocked when he heard about such an astonishing loss: "This, this is really--"
"It was indeed a heavy loss," said Mr. Sean. "But Ashu also said, the upstream people discovered it early, and the people and farm machinery in the base were evacuated to the Elf Forest in time. No one died, so the flooded fields were cleaned up within two months after the disaster. It can be considered a blessing in disguise."
Moon of Revenge thought about it and nodded in agreement - this showed that the Snow Wolf Tribe was not seriously injured, and that the temporary disaster was nothing, and they could still make a comeback.
"Fire Tribe..." Vengeance Moon murmured softly, looking up and surveying his surroundings.
The water surface that the canal boat broke through while going upstream has become clear again, but the water level is still a little high. The water ripples in the moonlight and makes a gurgling sound.
It is just the beginning of autumn, but the evening breeze on the grassland is already a little chilly. The vegetation on both sides of the canal, which had been severely washed away by the flood, has just barely recovered a little vitality. The large areas of fallen reeds seem to silently tell the earth-shaking changes that took place at that time.
This land is wild, yet full of vitality. To the Moon of Revenge, the bare fields at the end of the sight appear to be fine land that has been carefully leveled and is ready for sowing.
The natural disaster flood that submerged countless fields and forced the Snow Wolf Tribe to take refuge in the Elf Forest did not make the creatures on this land bow their heads. They still firmly ran the food business in the Elf Port, still resiliently and unyieldingly sorted out the destroyed fields, and still continued their lives...
Revenge Moon couldn't help but feel a little envious.
From what he had seen with his own eyes in the territories of the human kingdom, it was normal for large tracts of land to be abandoned for a few years if a disaster struck anywhere... The human villages, towns, and agricultural communities simply did not have the conditions to resume production so quickly. A year's reduced harvest would inevitably lead to a number of agricultural producers fleeing or starving to death - even if the fields could not produce a single grain of food, the noble lords still had to pay rent and taxes of all kinds!
If the farmers flee and the land is abandoned for a year, the local nobles can openly designate those "unowned lands" as their own farms and estates; from this point of view, the nobles even hope that agricultural producers will suffer from disasters, flee, or die.
"…This is what he called the embodiment of the fundamental principle of 'who does the collective wealth belong to'…" Weber Hodgson Moon of Vengeance turned his gaze to Xiao Yun, who was squatting on the bow deck with his head in his hands, assembling mushrooms, with an extremely deep look in his eyes.
After the match day, Hodgson met Alman and Adrian who had sneaked into the Cavaliers for a visit.
Hodgson had known Alman (who was the most connected person in "J") since the Moon of Revenge. During this meeting, Hodgson was shocked by Alman's change - Alman, a poor guy who couldn't even afford a mount, and Adrian each led a caravan to travel between the Federation countries for half a year, and they actually saved enough money to buy a viscount's territory! !
Hodgson, who had accumulated the same amount of wealth after decades, was almost killed by curiosity, so he shamelessly slid into the meeting between "J" and the Snow Wolf Man - then Hodgson was hit hard by the new world, and was baptized by the Snow Wolf Tribe's worldview like a storm, and was pressed to the ground by countless new knowledge that was beyond his common sense...
After that, Xiao Yun had a black magician who was definitely in the top 30 in terms of martial power in the entire continent...
After sailing all night, Xiao Yun immediately trotted towards the disaster-stricken direction after getting off the canal dock to personally confirm what kind of damage his home had suffered due to the flood.
Four factories, large tracts of fruit orchards and vegetable fields were all turned into wasteland; the triangular land on the right side of the canal was completely bare, with not a single hair left.
With a "puff", Xiao Yun spat out the blood in his heart and collapsed weakly...
"Are you okay, Ayun?" Ashan hurriedly and nervously hugged his nephew.
"Uncle Ashan, your brick factory is gone too..." Xiao Yun was so heartbroken that he could hardly breathe.
"Ah!" Ashan loosened his hands and looked nervously towards the swamp.
There were no road signs or reference points, so Ashan couldn't tell where the brick factory was at first glance...but all the vegetable fields and fruit trees south of the tribe were gone, there were no obstacles on the ground, and at a glance he could see a swamp that seemed to have expanded a lot more than 2,000 meters away. No matter how stupid Ashan was, he knew that his brick factory had turned to ashes.
Ashan began to tremble all over.
Now it was Xiao Yun's turn to be worried. He quickly reached out and grabbed A Shan's arm: "A Shan..."
"No, it's okay... We built our brick factory ourselves." Ah Shan turned back tremblingly, suppressing his grief and forcing a stiff smile, "We can just... rebuild it again."
Sean and Hodgson followed: "..."
"This is blood relationship." Hodgson said with envy.
Sean wanted to say something, but suddenly remembered that all of Hodgson's relatives were dead, so he quickly shut his mouth.
Yu and the soldiers who participated in the war ball activity came over and saw such a tragic scene. Yu was fine, but Xiaohua took the lead and cried loudly, and no one could stop her...
Xiao Yun tried to persuade this one and coax that one, but was completely unable to deal with these sad big guys. It was not until the Huoyan tribe leader heard the news and rushed over, seriously informing everyone that there were no casualties in the flood, and that after tidying up the fields, everyone was busy building a new factory in the original industrial zone. Even the little wolf cubs in the tribe were diligently moving bricks at the factory construction site. Only then was the situation slightly under control. As soon as Ashan & the warriors heard that the new factory was being built, they immediately ran to help, and no one could stop them.
“……”Hodgson, who was watching the whole process, felt… a little bit of envy and a little bit of sympathy.
It wasn't the first time that Xiao Yun had to endure the "shameful" behavior of his tribesmen. He was used to it and led the distinguished guest into the tribe with a normal expression.
After calling Snowflake to the activity room and asking her about the losses in detail and confirming that they were still within the tolerable range, she heaved a long sigh of relief... As long as the new hilly area and the tribe were not affected (Balke Laboratory, Evelyn Magic Application Team and Mr. Sean's studio were all within the tribe), not to mention the loss of nearly half of the fields, all the farms could be cleansed and started over again.
"A year's delay in the development of the tribe... can still be tolerated."
Xiao Yun pinched his chest with one hand and flipped through the recollections of several work meetings in the tribe during his absence, which had been sorted out by Xuehua, with the other hand. His mind was frantically thinking about the problems exposed by this flood.
In the Fire Tribe, the accumulated water was drained relatively quickly after the water receded, thanks to the well-developed water conservancy projects in the places where the farmland was built. Otherwise, the land would be leached after being soaked for a long time (when the drainage is poor or the watering is excessive, the mineral salts and organic matter in the upper soil layer are dissolved by the accumulated water and transferred to the lower soil layer, causing surface weathering, strong acidity and poor soil, etc.), which is particularly destructive to the land.
The drainage project at No. 1 Farm was not in place and it was soaked in water for a week. Before next spring sowing, deep plowing must be done and the amount of fertilizer applied is estimated to increase by about 20% to 30%... Fortunately, the fertilizer plant requires a large amount of phosphate rock and was built directly in the hilly new area, so it was not affected this time.
Xiao Yun was flipping through the minutes of the meeting with an indifferent look on his face, scanning the coping measures of the tribe's remaining personnel during the flood. On the other side, Xuehua, who was pretending to be calm but was actually trembling with guilt, stared at him nervously...
So, Xuehua is just too young - Xiao Yun would never rush to find someone to take the blame when something happens, unless he can really find someone's weakness, then he will jump up and trample that person into the ground...
The hidden danger of floods is determined by the geographical environment of the southwest region. As for the losses caused by this force majeure natural disaster, not to mention that everyone who stayed behind in the tribe coped very well, even if everyone was clumsy and the losses were greater, Xiao Yun would not cause trouble for them.
The Fire Clan leader, who had been observing Xiao Yun silently for many years and already knew Xiao Yun's personality, was not as nervous as Xue Hua. From the moment he sat down inside the room until now, the Fire Clan leader had not cared whether Xiao Yun would lose his temper or not, but had been staring at Mr. Sean from head to toe.
"Mr. Sean, why have you changed so much?" The Fire Clan leader couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, I became a necromancer." Mr. Sean said frankly.
Evelin, who had just entered the door, slipped and fell to the ground with a plop, her little face facing down.
"Evelyn?!" The Fire Clan leader was shocked.
"Undead, wizard?!" Evelyn, whose nose was bleeding, got up in shock.
"Yes, Evelyn, now I can compete with you to see who lives longer." Mr. Sean smiled.
Evelyn took a deep breath and roared, "What on earth are you doing——!!"
The Fire Clan leader shrank back, Xue Hua was stunned, Xiao Yun covered his ears with a hiss, and glared at Evelin with particular disgust.
"I've reached the end of my life span." Mr. Sean had to confess honestly.
Evelin was stunned, and the momentum of the lion's roar immediately weakened.
Mr. Sean stood up with a smile and pulled the dejected Evelin over to sit down: “Why, just because I became a necromancer, you are going to dislike me?”
“No…” Evelin was extremely conflicted. “Well, since it’s Mr. Sean’s choice, then…” She really couldn’t go on. She looked up at Xiao Yun, and her eyes swept over the Moon of Revenge who was looking at her. Her body trembled.
“You, you—” Evelin stood up uncontrollably and pointed her finger impolitely.
Revenge Moon thought about how to deal with this situation, nodded slightly, and said (what he thought was very) politely: "Good day."
Evelyn's dull face: "(￣口￣|||)??"
Mr. Sean quickly turned his face away, his shoulders trembling slightly.
Evelin swallowed and slowly lowered her gaze to the table.
Revenge Moon, who was rumored to be cruel and ruthless and whose appearance meant terror, was sitting less than . In front of her right hand was a cup of hot water and juice. In her left hand, she held a small spoon, scooping up the smooth milk and egg pudding from the dessert plate and putting it steadily into her mouth.
This black magician, who is always associated with cruelty and darkness in rumors, is extremely cold even when eating pudding.
“…” Evelin stared at Xiao Yun blankly.
Even though Xiao Yun despised him, he still had to take care of his own disciple: "This is Mr. Weber Hodgson. Mr. Hodgson, this is my disciple Evelyn."
Vengeance Moon had already greeted them, and tasted the pudding with a grim expression, staring at Evelyn silently.
“…Good day, Mr. Hodgson.” Evelyn tried to put on a ladylike smile, squatted slightly, and made a gesture to lift her skirt.
Teacher——! Couldn't you have told me in the letter that you would even bring back the Moon of Vengeance? !
Well... Xiao Yun, the great magician, actually has no confidence in whether he can bring back such a useful laborer as Hodgson. After all, Mr. Sean was able to get on board because he was an idealist and had regrets about the undeserved changes in the Kingdom of Kronin; the "J"s were originally followers of the Lich King and were eager to see a complete change in the human kingdom. They found that the path taken by the Snow Wolf Tribe was feasible, so they were willing to get on board... uh, it was normal for them to come and learn advanced experiences.
Hodgson was different. He was a survivor of the Moon City. All his people had died. His hometown was burned to the ground more than a hundred years ago. Nothing was left. He had no chance to become a hardworking and idealistic revolutionary who could dream of benefiting his hometown...
You stay in the Mage Tower, show up at Frank's feast, and get the wool of the human royal family and nobles by relying on your reputation. Your life is so easy and happy. Why would they follow you to the grassland to enjoy the breeze? Is it because they are bored or is Xiao Yun so beautiful?
When they returned to the grassland, the black magician followed the Fire Tribe's inner sea fleet silently. Xiao Yun was not sure whether he would part ways with them at the Elf Port. It was not until they took the canal boat back to the tribe overnight that this guy followed them silently. Xiao Yun was sure that this guy was really interested in the grassland...
There is no way. With Webb Hodgson's taciturn personality, his gloomy face and even deeper eyes, and his completely abandoned social skills, it is really difficult for others to guess what he is thinking unless he is willing to try hard to express himself.
