Xu Hao is striking iron this day, I don't know why, the recent business is very bad, this order is the only one this week, and it is not a farm tool, in fact, a blacksmith like Xu Hao in the village mainly relies on farm tools, but this time why has no one come to play farm tools for so long? This is also too abnormal.

After Xu Hao completed the last process, he put the thing on the table outside the stable, and then the person would automatically come over to take the thing, and the money would be given to Xu Hao on the table.

After putting down the things, Xu Hao entered the Xu Ji Tavern, there were only two tables of guests sitting sporadically in the tavern, and the dishes had been served, only a plate of peanuts, a plate of cucumbers, and a pot of sorghum wine.

On the counter, Carpenter Li's daughter-in-law was counting the accounts with a sad face, and Liu Zhixuan was sitting next to the crib coaxing Xiao Xu to sleep, the business was obviously not very good, Xu Hao walked in and said hello to Li Carpenter's daughter-in-law and squatted next to the crib and looked at Xiao Xu, he said while looking at Xiao Xu, "Is the business of the tavern bad these days?"

"Alas, it's not good, Brother Xu, it's good that we can keep it from losing money these days, this year, it's not easy for anyone, there is still spare money to go to the restaurant, no one has come for several days. Carpenter Li's daughter-in-law said while dialing the abacus beads.

"Well, there have been a lot fewer people striking iron recently, I don't know what happened? Why does everyone seem to be sad?" Xu Hao turned his head and asked.

"Hey, Brother Xu, you are still a foreigner, you don't have your own land, so you don't know about this, haven't you noticed? It hasn't rained for three months, and the wheat we grow is not as tall as my calf, hey, this year is a once-in-a-century catastrophe year, everyone is the same, we farmers rely on the sky for food, and it's really sad that it doesn't rain on this day!" Carpenter Li's daughter-in-law said with a sad face.

"Then even if this year's harvest is not good, it won't be like this, right? Don't other people have any surplus grain at home? Even if there is no surplus grain, they can buy it in the town, and it won't be sold in the town, right?" Xu Hao said.

This time it was Liu Zhixuan who replied: "What you said is light, those who sell grain in the town have seen that there is no harvest this year and have raised prices sharply, and the price of grain is one day a day, and this year not only does it not rain, the crops have also suffered from locust plagues, and now even those grains that are not as high as their calves are gone, and many families are worried that they don't know how to survive this year, but our village is okay, I heard that people in other villages have starved to death." ”

"No wonder no one is playing farm tools, so how much surplus grain do we have in our family now?" Xu Hao leaned closer and asked Liu Zhixuan.

"Hehe, don't worry about this, how smart I am, I've always paid attention to the fact that it doesn't rain, so I haven't moved the two houses of rice noodles you bought, and the tavern uses newly bought rice noodles, so it's no problem for our family to spend this year, and we still have more than 500 sheep in our family, even if we don't do anything now, I can make our family live comfortably for two years." Liu Zhixuan suddenly whispered to Xu Hao.

"Since our family has food, Brother Li's family has always been kind to us, when their family has no food, we will help them more, our two families are like a family, and we must unite in this kind of year!" Xu Hao also said in a low voice, he secretly looked at Carpenter Li's daughter-in-law, and found that she didn't look at her side at all, the less people know about the food in her family, the better, and there will be no shortage of people who will do something crazy for food in this kind of years.

Of course Liu Zhixuan will not refuse this kind of thing, she is not a stingy person, and Carpenter Li's family has indeed always been good to the two of them, and her confinement is served by Carpenter Li's daughter-in-law, although food is expensive, Liu Zhixuan is not the kind of ungrateful person.

Another month passed, and there was still no rain, and the sun seemed to give out all its light and heat on these days, and it was very hot, and the villagers were lying naked in the shade of the trees, and they were all hungry and yellow-skinned, and there was no business in the blacksmith shop, and there were occasionally one or two people in the tavern, but with the decrease in food, the food in the tavern also increased in moderation, but this was also much cheaper than other taverns, which also led to no one going to other taverns at all.

Carpenter Li's family has almost eaten the grain, yesterday Carpenter Li's daughter-in-law blushed and Liu Zhixuan borrowed a pot of noodles, Liu Zhixuan didn't say a word and directly asked Xu Hao to carry over a bag, according to the price on the market, such a big bag of noodles has been sold for one or two silver, you must know that in ordinary times one or two silver can almost buy more than a dozen bags of noodles, no way, this is the case in the disaster year, as long as you can survive, you can eat anything, Xu Hao has rarely seen stray dogs in the village again, and I don't know that I have entered the stomach of the villager.

Time flies another month has passed, still no rain, the villagers have begun to eat wild vegetables and bark, the pedestrians on the road are yellow and thin and walk against the wall, as long as they see some food, their eyes will shine and rush up to eat it, this month the villagers are completely relying on eating wild vegetables and bark, Xu Ji blacksmith shop has been closed, and the tavern has been empty, but Liu Zhixuan and Xu Hao will sit here every day to see the villagers coming and going, and Xu Hao will hand him one or half a steamed bun when he encounters a hungry faint。

"Xuan'er, let's have a meal in the village, I see that everyone is already hungry, I heard that other villages have begun to change their children's food, and our village is about to come to this point, we can help it, I don't want to see the people in our village become like other villages." Xu Hao and Liu Zhixuan discussed.

"No! Our food seems to be a lot now, but we are two families eating, if you send all the food to the people in the village, what if our food is not enough? Do you want our mother and mother to eat wild vegetables and tree roots? It's not that I don't want to, it's really no way, the way of the world is like this now, if you don't care about the life and death of our mother and brother Li and the family for your kindness, you can do it. Liu Zhixuan picked up Xiao Xu and said while coaxing.

"Don't we still have a lot of black beans in our family?

"Black beans, that's for livestock, we do have a lot of black beans in our house, but that's for our cattle, if you give these to the people in the village, I'm afraid that they will not only appreciate it, but also scold you!"

"No, let's grind those black beans into flour and then mix some white noodles and stick noodles into them to make steamed buns, let's explain to them when the time comes, this is what our family usually eats, and now take out a part of it and distribute it to everyone, think they have nothing to say, there are only more than 400 people in the village, even if we make 500 black bean steamed buns, even if we repay everyone for taking care of us, although we can't do much, but we have to make at least a little!" Xu Hao stood up and said.

"Okay, okay, anyway, you are in charge of the affairs of the family, if you want to do this, I won't stop you, but there are some things you have to think clearly, and you must not let others know about other food things in our family. Liu Zhixuan said seriously.

"Okay, I know, you miser, those are your lives, if I give them all to others, you still don't want my life?" Xu Hao shook his head and smiled helplessly.

This kind of black beans are usually used by the people in the village to feed the livestock, very rough and difficult to swallow, Xu Hao bought two cows for Liu Zhixuan and the horse that Xu Hao bought himself usually eats this, for the livestock said that these are very good feed, and Xu Hao is a very lazy person, these black beans Xu Hao bought a lot at one time, and they were piled up in the side house of his house, piled very high, and it was enough for these two cows and a horse for a period of time.

This time Xu Hao is ready to do it

Five hundred black bean steamed buns, he moved ten bags of black beans and a bag of white noodles, it took most of the day to grind those black beans into powder, and then mixed the bag of white noodles into it, Xu Hao and Liu Zhixuan made black bean steamed buns in front of the tavern, and the villagers who passed by around smelled the aroma and gathered around, Xu Hao kneaded the dough, Liu Zhixuan made steamed buns, a steamed bun is about the size of an adult's fist, Xu Hao originally thought that these black beans and white noodles were not enough to make five hundred steamed buns, but he didn't expect to make thousands, these steamed buns almost didn't tire Liu Zhixuan and Xu Hao, and made it to the end, had no choice but to call Carpenter Li and Carpenter Li's daughter-in-law to help.

Xu Hao saw that there were more and more people around, and he stood up and said: " Folks, as you can see, we are making steamed buns, I don't hide it from you, these steamed buns are made of noodles ground from black beans, that's right, it is the black beans we usually feed livestock, there is no food at home, a bag of white noodles in the town has risen to five taels of silver, and it is still priceless, I am just a blacksmith, I really can't afford to buy such expensive food, fortunately, there are some black beans eaten by livestock at home, we usually eat this, to be honest, our family is already very bitter, but Xu Hao sees that everyone is more bitter than us, Xu Hao is taken care of by everyone, if it is not for everyone in Aoki Village for so long, Xuan'er and I must have had a very miserable life, so this time we decided to take out half of the black bean noodles to make steamed buns and share them with everyone, I promise that there is no intention of humiliating everyone, don't believe it, I'll eat it for you first!"

"Oh, Brother Xu, we all see how you usually behave in our Aoki Village, to be honest, you can give us half of the food in this kind of year, we are really grateful to your family, as long as I can do it in the future, I Meng San will never say anything. The man who spoke was a yellow-skinned man, a man in the village, who was usually alone, and had always lived on the help of his families.

Xu Hao said: "Okay, since this is the case, let's wait a while to share the steamed buns, everyone in our Aoki Village has a share, whether it is an adult or a child, one per person, if there is more, it will be divided tomorrow, if it is less, I will do it for everyone, you all hurry up and tell each other now, as long as it is the people of our Aoki Village, it is not good for those in other villages, this thing is not enough for our own villagers." ”

After hearing Xu Hao's words, everyone immediately dispersed and went to their own homes to call people, they couldn't wait to even count their cats and dogs as a part at this time, and it was better to get an extra steamed bun than anything else. ”

"Daughter-in-law, Brother Li, sister-in-law of the Li family, how long does it take for our steamed buns to be cooked? Xu Hao said.

"It will take at least an hour for so many steamed buns, you just wait, rest assured, these steamed buns are all given away by you, a loser. Liu Zhixuan said as she added firewood to the stove.

Xu Hao didn't ask more questions when he heard this, but sat at the door of the tavern, looked at the sky, and said to himself: "It's no different from you in the ordinary years, but now it seems that you are really important, steamed bread, steamed bread!"

"Whew!"

"Huh?" Xu Hao came back to his senses suddenly, only to see a dirty puppy that didn't know where to come out, and squatted in front of Xu Hao at this moment.

"Steamed buns?"

"Whew!"

"Steamed buns!"

"Whew!"

Haha, it just so happens that my tigress likes cats and dogs, and even if you are smart and not eaten by those hungry and crazy people, you will be the dog of our Xu family in the future, you will be called steamed buns, I will wash you in a while and take you to see your hostess, okay?

"Whew!" the puppy was visibly excited, wagging his tail and bouncing around.