Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle
Chapter 34 - 33 Arid Wasteland in a Lean Year (Part 4)

Chapter 34: Chapter 33 Arid Wasteland in a Lean Year (Part 4)

Before it got dark, people had to leave, and a long line moved along in a straggling manner.

At the very front, Chen Huihong was striding swiftly, and apart from her somewhat unspeakably wretched appearance, she didn’t look like a disaster victim at all. Especially with her clothes stuffed full with straw, compared to the truly frail disaster victims around her, she seemed like she could take on ten of them single-handedly.

Hui Niang was somewhat afraid of the human trafficker whose face changed faster than flipping a book, so she closely followed Chen Huihong. Even if she couldn’t keep up, she’d grit her teeth and make the extra effort to catch up by jogging. Occasionally, when Chen Huihong glanced back at Hui Niang’s stumbling figure, she’d slow down her pace a bit.

As for the human trafficker walking third in line, her expression and actions were much more ferocious.

Regarding physique, the human trafficker was considered normal to slightly thin among modern people, looked to be in her forties or fifties, and was very tall, about the same height as Chen Huihong. Her clothes were also very tattered and relatively thick, and she hugged a sweet potato and carried valuables, which made her quite wealthy among the disaster victims.

Perhaps because of the burden, she found it more strenuous than Hui Niang to keep up with Chen Huihong, but Chen Huihong didn’t care whether she kept up or not, and just moved forward on her own, pausing at most to wait for Hui Niang.

The human trafficker didn’t want to be left behind by Chen Huihong, nor did she want the goods behind her to actually fall out of line. Exhausted and anxious from looking ahead and behind, she could only curse quietly all the way, not that Chen Huihong could hear anyway.

Chen Huihong couldn’t hear, but Qin Huai could hear.

From afternoon to nightfall, Qin Huai roughly figured out the situation of this group.

Compared to what he saw in a previous dream, this time Chen Huihong and Hui Niang must have been temporary allies for several months and had become somewhat coordinated. They not only moved out of the areas heavily affected by the drought but also had forged identities and determined a direction.

As for the human trafficker, her surname was Zhang, though everyone else called her Granny Zhang.

In Granny Zhang’s perspective, Chen Huihong was a girl from a wealthy family who had gotten scattered from her family while fleeing the famine. Hui Niang was a maidservant she picked up on the way.

The reason this odd group was formed was that Granny Zhang’s husband died.

Granny Zhang was from Beiping and had been in this business for over a decade, always working as a husband-and-wife team. A few years ago, when there was a severe drought in Shanxi, the couple made quite a lot of money by buying low and selling high. Hearing this year that the drought continued, they planned to make another huge profit by buying people from Shanxi.

To their surprise, this year’s drought was even worse than the previous years, with total crop failure and barren lands. Ordinary families couldn’t survive even by selling their children. Buying people didn’t even require money or grain; just a shout would bring a crowd willing to follow the human traffickers in exchange for food.

In the year of famine, people resorted to cannibalism out of desperation. Granny Zhang’s husband died unexpectedly during a transaction. Witnessing everything from afar, Granny Zhang was scared to death and fled the scene with the acquired goods, keeping away from the crowds, eventually encountering Chen Huihong and Hui Niang, who were also keeping their distance.

Hui Niang came from a relatively well-off farming family, hence was somewhat sturdier compared to truly impoverished maidservants and a bit taller too. The first time Qin Huai saw Hui Niang in a dream, he felt she looked scrawny and severely malnourished, a far cry from Chen Huixi in the real world. But compared with the adolescent boys Granny Zhang bought, Hui Niang was much better off.

Chen Huihong was another story altogether. Her height, physique, and appearance were unmistakably those of someone from a wealthy family. Previously, with only Hui Niang as a reference, the contrast wasn’t that stark, but now standing amidst this group, she was like a crane standing among chickens.

Hui Niang knew the roads and could find water, and Chen Huihong looked like she had connections, was healthy and could fight. With Granny Zhang having lost her husband and carrying dozens of new goods, worried about not being able to protect the grain she had, she clung to Chen Huihong for companionship, hoping to find a strong person to protect her.

When Granny Zhang met Chen Huihong, she had over twenty adolescents with her, the oldest being thirteen or fourteen, the youngest only six or seven, consisting of both boys and girls.

By now, the good-looking girls had already been sold cheaply along the way, and those who were too weak had died en route. Those who remained were Granny Zhang’s selections. They all looked frail, barely hanging on, but after arriving in Beiping and having a couple of filling meals, they would recover and sell for a good price.

Looking at Beiping up ahead, Granny Zhang started eyeing Hui Niang.

Hui Niang had managed fairly well during this journey by relying on a bean cake every two days and the food she found along the way, making her one of the disaster victims most likely to be chosen for purchase once outside the city. Having lost her husband and money on this journey, and having had to sell goods at a low price, Granny Zhang, knowing it would be inconvenient to continue her trafficking business alone, thought of making the most out of the last attempt, selling one if she could.

To earn a bit more, Granny Zhang even generously gave both Chen Huihong and Hui Niang a small sweet potato.

Granny Zhang used a firestone to ignite dry grass, kindling wood to roast sweet potatoes and keep warm. Hui Niang sat by the fire, holding a clay pot filled with water, waiting for the sediment to settle. Possibly worried about the fire igniting the dry grass in her clothing, Chen Huihong sat farther away, quietly gnawing on tree bark, tucking the sweet potato into her clothes.

"Hui Niang, have you been to Beiping before with your mistress?" Granny Zhang initiated conversation with Hui Niang.

Hui Niang quietly shook her head.

"Beiping is quite big, with an Imperial Palace and a Prince’s Mansion. Although the Emperor is gone, the old princes and Princes live lavishly. If you can get a job in a Prince’s Mansion, bean cakes are out of the question, you could eat ten a day if you wanted," Granny Zhang tempted with the promise of bean cakes.

Unmoved, Hui Niang replied with worldly nonchalance, "But I want to eat white wheat buns."

Granny Zhang: "... White wheat buns exist too. Those girls in the alleys, never mind white wheat buns; they’re affluent and can eat treats like pea cake, fried dough sticks, and Kidney Bean Rolls that only the nobles in the palace could enjoy. Have you heard of these foods? They’re precious, exquisite delicacies made from fine flour, topped with sugar, sweeter than honey!"

Hui Niang remained unmoved because she had neither tasted fine flour nor honey and really couldn’t imagine what Granny Zhang was talking about.

Granny Zhang didn’t give up: "If it doesn’t work out, you can still work as a laborer in a tavern or oil mill. Some places aren’t picky with people. Although life there is tough, you’ll get enough to eat. If you find bean rice tasteless, you can try your luck with leftovers, one copper coin per chopstick, and if you’re lucky, you might snag a piece of meat."

Saying this, Granny Zhang seemed to reminisce, smacking her lips, "Once, Li Mazi, who sold the leftovers, got some leftovers from a Tai-something building that came from outside the border, and boy, even if it was spoiled, it still tasted great. The copper coin was well spent."

Granny Zhang’s description of enjoying meat for a copper coin moved Hui Niang, who then ran over to Chen Huihong with the pot of water and offered it to her, "Sister, have some water."

The water had mostly settled.

Chen Huihong took a small sip as a gesture and handed the pot back to Hui Niang, then resumed fiddling with the half-broken wooden horse she had found earlier.

"Sister, Granny Zhang just mentioned that in Beiping City, one copper coin can buy meat." Hui Niang whispered.

"I heard it," Chen Huihong replied indifferently. "It’s all slop; eating too much can make you sick, or worse, kill you."

"But..." Hui Niang was still a bit eager, "You could eat meat, though."

Some boys lying down to rest shared the same thought as Hui Niang. One boy struggled to sit up, his face full of longing as he looked at Granny Zhang and asked, "Gr... Granny Zhang, when we get to Beiping, can we have meat for a copper coin too?"

"Eat, eat, eat, is that all you know?!" Granny Zhang scolded, "I’ve fed you how much grain along this journey? With such slow pace, you’d be lucky to get one full meal in Beiping, so who told you to talk while sitting, wasting energy and food?"

"All of you lie down and sleep. At first light, we’ll be on the road; once we’re in Beiping, I still have to find buyers for you, and the sooner you’re sold, the less food you eat!"

The children hurriedly lay back down. Granny Zhang finished the sweet potato, skin and all, then curled up with her bag and fell asleep.

In the blink of an eye, only Chen Huihong and Hui Niang remained sitting.

"Sister, when we get to Beiping, should we find some work? Begging seems likely to get us beaten to death." Hui Niang asked quietly.

"That’s your concern," Chen Huihong put away the wooden horse. "I don’t know where to go, but you said your parents might head to Beiping, so I’m coming with you."

"When we reach the city, you go your way, and I’ll go mine."

With that said, Chen Huihong lay down and closed her eyes to sleep.

Hui Niang, still clutching the pot, sat dazed for a while, then cautiously lay down, resting her back against Chen Huihong’s, and peacefully fell asleep.

In the firelight, Qin Huai saw Chen Huihong open her eyes, glance at Hui Niang, adjust her position slightly so Hui Niang wouldn’t be too uncomfortable leaning against her, and then closed her eyes to sleep again.

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