Succubus' Manor

It was another beautiful morning, and the little maid Norma started her day's work. She put on her own clothes, took her wooden basin to fetch water, and after washing her face and hands, she went to the small room behind the kitchen. Waiting to get your meal.

"Eat mushroom katuo soup this morning." The little manservant who had already stepped into the "canteen" said after she sat down.

Norma nodded solemnly, her face was still childish, and she made such an expression to make people feel a little funny.

She took the wooden bowl and went to get her own breakfast.

Some salt and spices were put in the soup, which was not treated by the lord before he came. Norma treasured the wild vegetables and katuo in the soup, and drank the soup completely.

After breakfast, Norma went to the courtyard of the castle to mix feed for the piglets. She mixed the wheat bran and bean dregs with water and boiled until soft, then scooped them up and added some goat milk.

The ewe will stop producing milk immediately. If the piglets are not weaned, the piglets will starve to death after the ewe has no milk.

This is Norma's task, and Norma must complete it well!

Not a single piggy can die!

She cleaned the pigsty very clean every day and took good care of the piglets, probably because she was familiar with the smell of Norma. As soon as she walked into the pigsty, the piglets jumped at her with their broken legs and screamed. The unique cry of a pig.

Probably because of Norma's earnestness, the piglets all grew up well, and none of them got sick.

The pig hair also gradually hardened and felt a little sticky. After feeding the piglets, Norma began to clean the pig house.

Shovel pig manure into wooden barrels, these things can be used as fertilizer.

Norma isn't too dirty at all.

She worked very carefully.

The piglets did not grow as fast as Chi Yan imagined. It had been a month and only a small circle had grown up, not as fast as the cats in Chi Yan's former classmate's house.

It may be a matter of breed. The wild boars here do not grow as fast as modern hybrid pigs.

However, compared with piglets, the harvest of ramie was the best news that Chi Yan had received. The harvest of ramie meant that they could finally start weaving cloth to make sugar and wine.

Although ramie wine also needs distiller's yeast, they are not busy making wine now. As long as they can weave cloth and make sugar, the territory will soon be able to sell goods, earn money, and buy needed items.

Weaving carts and looms have been built, and what needs to be done now is to peel off the outer skin of ramie. After the outer skin has been soaked and kneaded, it can be spun into threads. The process is not simple and easy, and After several experiments, a lot of ramie skins were wasted, but because of the careful craftsmanship of the dwarves, after repeated experiments, the thread was finally able to be spun.

Although due to unskilled techniques, the twine is thick in some places and thin in others. The cloth woven by such uneven twine has large gaps and is not very warm.

But these threads can't be wasted, Chi Yan asked the servants to practice weaving with these threads.

In the end... the dwarves learned all these tasks first. They were gifted in these areas and were born with dexterity. They might not be very smart in other areas, but their brains turned extremely fast in this area.

But it may also be because they made the spinning carts and looms and knew how to use them better, so they got started faster than others.

Anyway, the dwarves have basically left the land to work now, and they either spin and weave or teach others to weave.

Chi Yan himself spun thread by hand, and the result was horrible.

After harming the processed ramie husk, Chi Yan finally admitted that he was not the material.

As for weaving, Chi Yan didn't try it, so as not to waste it again.

He is now putting all his energy into sugar production, which requires more manpower, constant stirring during the cooking process, and he has to watch the fire to fish out the syrup and wait for it to cool.

However, because the weather has not completely cooled down, the autumn tiger is extremely violent, and the boiled syrup is not very formed.

At this time, Chi Yan generously asked the servants to use saltpeter to make ice and put them in the room, and then placed wooden basins filled with syrup in the room. After the syrup cooled into pieces, he first used a knife to remove the sugar from Pry it out of the wooden basin, and smash it into relatively uniform sugar cubes.

Chi Yan tasted a small piece himself when it was ready. It tasted not as sweet as white sugar and brown sugar, and the color was also slightly yellow, but it had a delicate fragrance and would not feel greasy after eating it empty-handed.

"Is it delicious?" Chi Yan stuffed a small piece of ramie candy into Kleist's mouth.

Kleist smiled and said, "It's not as sweet as honey."

Chi Yan: "Be content! Honey is hard to come by, and I'm not going to keep bees."

Chi Yan hated bugs, and was also afraid of bees. Whether it was wasps or bees, as long as he saw them, he felt that he was about to be stung.

Honey is delicious, but bees are not so cute.

"But we have to wait for Dahe and the others to find a way to sell the sugar." Chi Yan sighed.

Kleist swallowed the candy and said, "Since you are worried about Dahe, why don't you let me take him for a walk."

Chi Yan: "Is that okay? Actually, I originally wanted the housekeeper to go with me, but he's getting old, so I'm afraid that something might happen on the way."

Kleist suddenly said: "Let me pick the ones who go out with Dahe this time."

Chi Yan was even more surprised: "You pick?"

Kleist nodded: "Choose from the group I brought back."

Before Kleist could explain the reason, Chi Yan had already found a reason for Kleist - those people had been around and suppressed robbers, they had a certain fighting ability, and they were well-raised these days , at least it doesn't look that skinny anymore.

Chi Yan thought for a while and felt that this method was feasible.

"When Dahe is ready, you can choose someone to go with Dahe." Chi Yan looked into Kleist's eyes, "Then remember to come back early."

Kleist couldn't hold back, and touched Chi Yan's face: "You started to miss me before I left?"

Chi Yan: "..."

He just said this out of habit, but he didn't expect Kleist to interpret it in this way.

Chi Yan: "You really think a lot."

Although he said so, Chi Yan not only asked them to bring candy, but also provided them with daggers. The night before Kleist and the others went out, Chi Yan Didn't sleep all night.

Not because of panic, just because of worry.

When Da He took people away last time, he didn't know that he might encounter such a serious danger.

In his prediction, even if he didn't succeed, it would be a waste of money at most.

Chi Yan didn't fall asleep all night, and the next morning, he stared at the two dark circles under his eyes to see him off.

Kleist was in good spirits. He was originally outstanding. At this time, under the sun, his long blond hair was shining. Chi Yan stood at the gate of the castle, looked up at Kleist, and once again realized that Klein Leicester's beauty.

Mingming was tossed and turned all night. When seeing him off, Chi Yan didn't know what to say, but said, "You must come back safely."

"Nothing is as important as life."

Kleist smiled and said, "I know."

Compared to Kleist's relaxedness, Dahe looked very nervous.

I don't know why, although the people who went out this time were all about the same height as him, and they didn't look as strong as him, but he just felt scared, especially now in the crowd, he even felt that he was in the middle of a group of bloodthirsty beasts.

The sense of danger made his hairs stand on end.

Chi Yan also encouraged Dahe and the people who were going out this time.

This group of people was selected by Kleist. Although none of them can be called good-looking, Chi Yan thinks it's okay for a man to look ugly. After a long time...it's still ugly after a long time.

If people with the golden ratio of their faces are all handsome men and beautiful women, then this group of people are crooked melons with completely unbalanced proportions.

But they don't think they are ugly, and they have learned how to dress up recently. They go to the woods to pick wild flowers and put them in their ears. The effect is very funny, but also because of this, there are fewer people who are afraid of them in the territory.

Chi Yan stood at the intersection and watched them leave. After Kleist left, Chi Yan's heart felt empty.

He himself did not understand why.

It's just that before Chi Yan could get sentimental, on the way back to the castle, he stopped suddenly.

The flustered feeling that hadn't been seen for a long time reappeared.

Chi Yan subconsciously looked up at the sky, the sky was as blue as washing, the wind was sunny, and there was no sign of danger at all.

But soon, Chi Yan looked towards the southern sky.

There seemed to be black clouds gathering in the distance.

It might rain over there.

Just when Chi Yan was about to step back to the castle, he suddenly couldn't move.

So dark and cloudy...

Coupled with his uncontrollable panic.

The wheat is not yet fully ripe, and if he makes a wrong decision, a lot of the wheat harvest will be lost.

But if his guess is correct and people are not allowed to rush to harvest at this time, then when the locusts arrive, the wheat is likely to fail.

Locusts can bite through the sackcloth. Such a large group of locusts may cause most of the nearby territories to suffer.

There may be a famine around here this year.

Chi Yan turned around and said to the two male servants beside him: "Go and inform everyone, grab the wheat, regardless of whether it is ripe or not, send it all to the barn! There can't be any left!"

The servants were frightened by Chi Yan's tone at this time, and he was confused for a few seconds.

Chi Yan urged, "Go!"

The servants quickly stepped forward and ran towards the crowd.

People still need time to react, especially since the wheat is carefully planted by them, and it is about to be harvested, so it is estimated that they will be entangled for a while.

What Chi Yan didn't expect was that the male servant roared loudly, no matter if they were slaves or civilians, they all quickly went back to get the farm tools and started harvesting the wheat.

"They...why didn't they hesitate at all?" Chi Yan was very confused. He just said it suddenly, but no one doubted it?

I don't know when the housekeeper came to Chi Yan's side, and said at this moment: "There used to be locust plagues every year."

The steward's tone was very flat, but there was an indescribable solemnity: "Sometimes there are many locusts, and sometimes there are few locusts. As long as the food has not been harvested when the locusts come, many civilians may have no crops. Every winter in this area, Many people will freeze to death and starve to death.”

There are frozen bones in the rich wine and meat stinky road. It may be when the nobles are reading or having fun by the fireplace in a warm room.

The poor people in the territory, the civilians who have no crops, and the slaves who can only huddle together for warmth, will lose their lives silently.

Dead bodies on the road are not uncommon.

There is a reason why there are not many people here.

Minor illness, maybe a cold and fever, a small wound will take away life, not to mention others.

Chi Yan's expression also became serious.

Abel was harvesting wheat with his parents with the sickle allotted, and Abel's elder brother insisted on helping with his lame leg.

Abel bent over and said, "Brother Bert, you go back, our family has little land, and I will finish cutting it soon."

Burt rolled up his sleeves: "Don't underestimate me!"

Because the family only had one sickle, Abel gave the sickle to Bert, and he used the stone knife himself.

Naturally, it is not as easy to use as a scythe, but it is much better than bare hands.

Their parents carried the wheat into the house after they had harvested it.

Fortunately, they have a house. In the past, their wooden house had many gaps, which could not stop the locusts at all.

Abel's waist had never straightened up before, he and Bert both gritted their teeth, sweat soaked their clothes.

But fortunately, their house has little land, so it was cleaned up quickly.

Then take the wheat into the house with my parents, even if the wheat is not fully ripe, it is still edible.

Pick out the uncooked ones, the ripe ones can be eaten, and the unripe ones can be eaten as long as they are cooked for a longer time.

No one will think that immature is not delicious.

Only after Abel closed the door and window tightly did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Now the house is dark, and Abel can only see the sweaty family members in the room through the light that comes in through the small gaps in the windows and doors.

They all looked at each other and smiled in relief.

Although they can rely on catuo to fill their stomachs, wheat is their traditional crop.

Only when there is wheat at home can they feel at ease.

However, compared with Abel's family who rented less land, those who rented more land and slaves were much more tired.

They worked tirelessly to harvest and carry the wheat.

But before the harvest was over, the manservant yelled, "Shut the barn door!"

As soon as this sentence was uttered, the slaves quickly closed the doors of the barn, and the civilians also closed the doors and windows of their own houses.

Just as the last door was closing, the first batch of locusts flew over, blocking the sun.

It seemed that the sky was dark in an instant, and countless locusts pounced on the unharvested wheat, and everything they passed was gnawed clean.

Chi Yan felt that his idea of ​​catching locusts was too naive.

There are snakeskin bags in modern times, but there are no strong cloth bags here, and the cloth he wove himself has no time to sew into cloth bags.

Overwhelming locusts sometimes rush towards humans, land on them, and only fly away after finding out that they are not food.

Chi Yan was pulled into the castle by the butler.

Chi Yan has never seen locust plagues in modern times, but only watched TV reports. The large number of locusts did not last long from landing to flying away, and after waves of waves, after several waves in a row, there would be no more locusts on that piece of land. There will be edible food again.

He had imagined how terrible the scene would be when the locusts came, but he didn't expect it to be this terrible.

The densely packed locusts lay on the wheat, and they didn't let go of everything they could eat.

These locusts, which look small and pitiful individually, even taste delicious and crispy after being fried with oil and seasonings, can have such a strong destructive power when they gather together, just like the nano-robots in the movie. The place was swept away.

The first wave of locusts flew away quickly, but the second wave followed closely. They could only eat the leftovers of the first wave, but there was not much left, and found that there was no food to fill their stomachs After that, the second wave also flew away.

Throughout the day and into the evening, small groups of locusts also arrived, but they stayed for a shorter period of time.

But also because of the small number, the people in the territory began to catch these locusts. They used wooden basins and shook them violently in the air a few times, and some knocked out locusts remained in the wooden basin.

The servants in the castle are also hunting.

Some nobles believed that locusts were the incarnation of the Holy Spirit to punish less devout believers.

After all, besides doing some good things, the Holy Spirit here also often does bad things. According to legend, many natural disasters are caused by the anger of the Holy Spirit.

So those nobles would forbid people to catch or kill locusts.

As a result, the food that could have been robbed was also harmed in this way.

But Chi Yan didn't stop the people in his territory, he even went to catch locusts in the yard with a wooden basin.

I also threw a few handfuls of wheat stalks in the middle of the yard.

When the locusts flew over, he went up and waved the wooden basin.

Not only was he tired, but the locusts he caught were not many, but this time Chi Yan was very generous. He said to Anna: "Everyone is very tired today. After they hand over the locusts they caught to you, you will do it all tomorrow. Stir fry in soybean oil, add some salt and spices."

The processed locusts are very fragrant.

Chi Yan wanted to eat it himself, so he asked Anna to save one for him.

After Anna heard Chi Yan tell the recipe, she also became greedy. It sounded delicious, and she quickly said, "My lord, I will definitely make it according to your request."

The locusts came suddenly, and there were too few people like Chi Yan who could detect them in advance.

Especially the lords, most of them are having fun, and have no idea that a large number of locusts are approaching.

Chi Yan wasn't in the mood to think about what happened in other people's territory - he discovered it all because of intuition, and it was impossible to inform others in advance, and the people in the territory finally slept soundly that night.

There are locust plagues every year. Although the extent of the disaster is sometimes large and sometimes small, every time a disaster occurs, the damage to the civilians is huge.

Abel slept on the hay. The hay was dry, thick and soft. He opened his eyes and said, "This winter will be better than the previous ones."

Burt turned sideways: "If you continue like this, maybe you will be able to get married soon."

Abel was blushed, and he stammered, "Bert and Bert are not married yet, why, why is it my turn?"

Bert touched his crippled leg, half heartbroken, half regretful and said: "If my leg is not broken, then I must be the first to get married."

Their mother said: "There are not many girls in the territory, and I don't think their parents will let them get married in the past two years, or you can go outside to find them?"

After satisfying the basic needs of eating, drinking and lazing, they began to pursue other things.

Including a new family and a new life.

Abel whispered, "Let's talk about it later."

Anyway, we have to wait another two years.

At noon the next day, the servants ate delicious fried locusts. Anna’s craftsmanship became better. Her fried locusts were delicious and crispy, because the oil and spices were added, and the locusts were also delicious. Such a little bit of meat tastes very fragrant, and almost no one can resist this taste.

The slaves also ate fried locusts. After they caught the locusts, they gave them to the servants, and Anna's mother fried them and then the servants gave them to them.

In addition to fried locusts, slaves can also eat boiled katuo.

The life of slaves today is completely different from before.

When they are not working, they can move freely in the territory and do what they want. Most of the time, slaves like to lie on the grass and bask in the sun, and they can also chew some wild grass roots in their mouths. This kind of wild grass roots chew There will be a little sweetness after a long time, but nothing.

So whether it is for slaves or civilians, this kind of grass root is very easy to get and a very popular snack.

After a hard day, lying on the grass, chatting with your companions, and chewing a few grass roots is simply a fantasy life.

Now the most populous jobs in the territory are weaving and blacksmithing.

For iron, goblins and dwarves are the most, and there are also a small number of human races.

As for weaving, except for dwarves, they are human races, and goblins and tauren are not suitable for this job.

It's just that they don't work very efficiently.

But Chi Yan didn't think there was anything wrong, after all, when the equipment was still primitive, low efficiency was the norm.

And because of the spinning wheel, their speed is already much faster than that of other practitioners at the same time.

In addition to blacksmithing and weaving, manpower is also required to process and decompose ramie, and to make sugar.

In this way, the originally abundant manpower became stretched again.

It's just that when Chi Yan proposed to the housekeeper to buy another person or bring people in, the housekeeper stopped him.

"My lord." The steward lowered his head, but what he said could be called cruel. "The locust plague has just passed. This year, many people in many nearby territories will become slaves, and some people will also flee."

His voice was very flat, without any emotional ups and downs: "As long as we wait until winter, we can harvest a lot of people at no cost."

Chi Yan: "...But the people found like that must be very weak, we still have to raise..."

The butler interrupted Chi Yan: "My lord, don't worry, we have cats and we have a lot of cats."

They only need to pay a small price to get free labor willing to work for them.

Minimize your losses.

Chi Yan scratched his head: "Then let me think about it, let me think about it for a few days."

The butler bent slightly: "Okay, my lord."

No one knows how many people are fearing the coming winter after experiencing a tragic locust plague.

These people who are afraid of winter don't know whether the people who die this winter will go to themselves.

They have been unable to prepare for the coming harsh winter.

Those little locusts devoured all their hope and chance of survival.