CH 258

"White flour is not available, do you want sorghum flour or Korean noodles?"

Squatting on a large square stone, the skinny old man holding a large porcelain bowl asked Lv Zhuangyuan, who was asking about grain sales.

"But isn't the field all sorghum? Why is there no white flour? We're paying for it, we're not robbing you," Lv Zhuangyuan said, sounding a bit unwilling.

Although coarse grains can be eaten, they are not as delicious as fine grains. Besides, they are not spending their own money, so there is no need to be stingy.

The skinny old man shook his head like a drum. "That won't do. The white flour has to be saved for the officials to pay their taxes. If they can't pay the taxes, they'll make my son a coolie."

"Little Daoist, look at this..."

Lv Zhuangyuan turned his head and looked at Li Huowang, who was touching the dog's head with his hand, with an inquiring gaze.

After getting a nod, Lv Zhuangyuan turned back to the old man and said, "Okay, okay, we'll take the coarse grains. We're buying a lot, so you have to give us a discount."

As bags of grain were loaded onto the cart, the wheels sank slightly into the soil.

But buying so much had its benefits. At least the other party agreed to lend them two empty grain warehouses for Li Huowang and his friends to stay in.

Although all the grain they bought was coarse, Yang Xiaohai could still make delicious food.

The sticky mixed-grain dough was wrapped around the black pot and baked into golden brown cakes.

The cakes were served with soup made from yesterday's leftover lamb bones, which was their dinner.

A quick look at tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w will leave you more fulfilled.

Although the food was simple, it tasted very good.

"Little Daoist, there are a lot of people here. We need to send more people to watch the sheep at night, or someone might come and steal them," Lv Zhuangyuan reminded Li Huowang, who was eating a baked cake.

"It's okay. Let Mantou sleep in the sheep pen at night. She'll bark if someone tries to steal the sheep," Li Huowang said, throwing the boneless lamb bone on the ground and immediately crouching down under his stool. Mantou rushed up and grabbed it with her mouth, holding it down with her front paws and chewing it with relish.

"Almost as good as a dog. How about this? I'll let my son go with the dog to guard the sheep. I just found out the price. Once we leave Qingqiu, these sheep are worth a lot of money," Lv Zhuangyuan said, smiling with satisfaction. He couldn't help feeling proud that their Lv family troupe was useful again.

"Is your daughter-in-law okay after giving birth outside? Do you need to find a midwife here in the village?" Lv Xiucai asked.

"It's okay. She's had a baby before, so giving birth the second time is like taking a shit. Um...sorry, we can't talk about this during meals," the old man said.

Just as the group was eating in this simple barn, they heard some commotion outside.

The puppy at the door turned his head and looked at Li Huowang inside. He grabbed a yellow cake from the pot and walked out curiously with his bowl.

The room quieted down, except for the sound of slurping soup and chewing food. The Korean noodle cakes stuck to their teeth, so they couldn't eat too fast and had to chew slowly.

Not long after, the puppy came back with an empty bowl and a happy face. "Hey! Do you know what I saw?" he asked.

The others glanced at him but continued to eat their dinner, too lazy to pay attention.

Seeing that no one was responding, Lv Xiucai asked at the right time, "What did you see?"As soon as Gouwa put down his bowl, he excitedly clapped his hands and said, "I just saw a group of people singing and performing! There are men and women! They are setting up a stage at the village entrance now!"

Upon hearing this, Li Huowang and the others had no reaction, but all the members of the Lv family theater troupe immediately perked up their ears.

If there was anything in the world that was naked hatred, then it was definitely among peers.

"Hey yeah! " Lv Zhuangyuan slammed his bowl on the ground, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, straightened his back like a rooster, and walked outside.

"Let's go take a look! I want to see how the theater is performed in Daliang!"

Li Huowang looked at his departing figure and continued to eat his fragrant yellow cake. He didn't care about these things, but for others, the temptation was great. They had been on the road for days and never had a chance to relax.

Upon hearing that there was a theater performance, the others couldn't sit still and quickly finished their food before heading outside.

"Senior Li, let's go take a look."

"Yeah, Taoist priest, let's go take a look. I love watching theater performances."

"I'm not going."

"Senior Li, don't be like that. Let's go. It's so good. I used to love being held by my grandmother and watching theater performances in the crowd." Bai Lingmiao gently shook Li Huowang's arm and sounded a bit coquettish.

"Yes, let's go. Please, Taoist priest." The monk in tattered monk's robes leaned over to Li Huowang with a look of longing.

Li Huowang watched the monk's lips move slightly and eventually held back the dirty words in his mouth. He put down his bowl and walked outside, and immediately heard the cheers of Bai Lingmiao and the monk behind him.

When he arrived outside, the previously empty village entrance had become very crowded. People hung on walls and trees, and judging by the number of people, it seemed that everyone in the village had come, including the members of the Lv family theater troupe.

Li Huowang led Bai Lingmiao to jump onto the roof and sit on the hard tiles, watching the brightly lit stage in the distance.

With the unique music of the theater, a red-faced general with six chess pieces inserted behind him and two long feathers on his head followed the rhythm and went on stage.

After dancing a few times with the white double maces in his hands, he suddenly appeared, the music stopped, and he began to sing with a firm and hearty voice.

"The sound of the golden drum echoes in the air, calling forth my lofty ambition. In my prime, I rode a warhorse with great power and majesty. I have to fulfill my duty on this earth and not let an inch of land fall into the hands of others!"

"Great!"

Hearing the cheers of Bai Lingmiao and the monk beside him, Li Huowang turned his head to look at her joyful profile, then looked up at the actors on the stage.

It seemed to describe the psychological activity of a certain general in Daliang before going to war, but Li Huowang didn't know which play it was or who the general was fighting against. But he was persuaded to come and didn't care about the plot, just like the others who were watching it in a daze.

At first, Li Huowang thought that this play was no different from the one performed by the Lv family, except for the different singing styles, but soon he discovered the differences.