Chapter 1456: Chapter 1456

Matters from thousands of miles away don’t concern Lao Song’s Family at all.

Right now, they’re busy serving the food.

Dog Brother and ten others squeezed around a table, with Seventh Uncle preparing a formal four dishes and a soup—served in a simple, unadorned stainless steel big iron basin, this dish truly lacks any style.

It’s a testament to their lifelong morals and courtesy that everyone managed to wait until the dishes were all served for Song Tan’s table to start eating before taking their own first bite. As soon as they began eating, mesmerized by the flavors, a series of sounds erupted from the laptop placed in the corridor.

Zhang Yanping held a bowl, puzzled: "Haven’t sold anything these two days, who’s messaging us again for inquiries in the backend?"

In a flash of inspiration, he decided: "Forget it, let’s eat first."

Usually speaking, a series of many notification sounds from the backend messages means the person on the other side must be quite troublesome. Just like how their family stuff is so good, yet some people, after snatching it, still give a ton of nitpicking negative reviews and then ask for refunds or cash for good reviews.

Dealing with such people, he never bothers with them, directly muting, blocking, a one-stop service.

It’s the same now! Content orıginally comes from 𝗇𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅•𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝗇𝖾𝗍

Recognizing the familiar cascade of messages, Zhang Yanping already anticipated the effort that would be required later, and took several bites of rice, suppressing his shock, all while listening to Dog Brother’s group joyfully exclaim:

"Why is this rice so delicious! It’s even better than the authentic one from Wuchang at my relative’s place!"

"Really! I could eat two or three bowls of this rice without any dishes—hey hey hey, I mean hypothetically! Now that there are dishes, why are you taking so much? Share some with me..."

"Dog Brother! You’re really something, hiding such a good place for so long before mentioning it."

"Come on! Who do you think you owe for this meal? Isn’t it me, Dog Brother? If it were you, you’d be settling for a meal at the mountain canteen."

"Dog Brother, could you ask, does this family really not sell their dishes or anything? We’ll pay promptly without haggling!"

Beside him, someone sneered: "Haggling? Haven’t you watched the livestream? If there were any chance for bargaining, would it even reach you?"

"Exactly! Dog Brother, can you ask if they are selling this tea this year? Can I get a few pounds?"

"A few pounds?" Brother Xiaosun rolled his eyes.

"This tea, you should ask around, it’s over 300,000 on the market, but it’s unavailable for purchase."

He knows, in this group, some indeed can afford it. But the problem is, they’re simply not selling! Brother Xiaosun wants to buy some himself and has to shamelessly ask Zhang Yanping for a few pounds and eight ounces...

Well, this news can’t be let out, otherwise he’ll have no peace in the future.

Amidst the lively banter and eating, as they continued to fill their cheeks, Zhang Yanping’s phone rang again.

Seeing the location of the number, he immediately laughed: "Wow, this time the harassing call isn’t from the coast, it’s from the borderlands!" After marveling for a moment, he decisively hung up, with his phone vibrating afterward, clearly more messages were incoming.

Zhang Yanping: ...If not for such delicious food already being eaten for a year, he’d have the urge to kill by now.

But at this moment, while carefully picking at fish bones, he opened his phone, and shortly afterward, froze.

Then, he handed the phone to Song Tan.

Song Tan’s bowl just had an extra deboned carp, with Seventh Uncle putting in extra effort today—it was incredibly fragrant!

The fish head and fins were neatly picked clean by Lun Chuan. As for the fish bones... truth be told, they weren’t perfectly clean, but the places with the most bones were all in Lun Chuan’s bowl! She’s very satisfied!

Gazing at the phone, she too froze.

"What’s wrong?" Lun Chuan asked.

Song Tan thought for a moment, summarizing the message: "Well, folks from the borderlands military are contacting me, wanting to uniformly purchase our Ai Cao. They say it’s great for bathing and mosquito repellent."

"Oh dear!" Wu Lan instantly felt sorry: "Is this needed for guard duty? I saw on Douyin, those mosquitoes clustered densely on the mesh—one bite and it’s life-threatening!"

She conferred with Song Tan: "So... should we sell it?"

Honestly, as ordinary citizens, the idea of collaborating with the government is naturally appealing—as long as they don’t delay payments.

Zhang Yanping grew tense: "Tantan, if you’re selling, at least leave some area, Guo Dong mentioned using Ai Tiao in the summer! It effectively cures illness."

"The question isn’t about selling or not," Song Tan explained: "It’s about selling and still not having enough."

She had no idea how many people were stationed in the borderlands, nor how many at the most challenging posts. But nationwide, those enduring tough environments aren’t limited to them. When coordinating with other units, surely they’ll all come looking too.

Are we really planning to plant all of the eight hundred acres at home with this? Even full planting wouldn’t suffice! How large are those specialized Ai Cao bases?

Song Tan was caught in a dilemma.

But Lun Chuan thought for a moment and suddenly said: "Perhaps... they won’t need that much initially."

Compared to Lao Song’s Family, he clearly understood the romance more, saying at the moment: "Ai Cao... is actually quite similar to tea leaves. What do you do with the leftover tea leaves after brewing at home?"

Lao Song’s Family rarely blushed: Can they even call it tea leaves? After putting them in giant buckets, they throw out the residue in pig food buckets daily.

Lun Chuan clearly realized as well, calmly stating: "When I was in Imperial City, the tea leaves you sent me were so fragrant, I wasn’t willing to throw them out after brewing; so I collected them, dried, and crushed them to make incense sticks."

Lao Song’s Family was stunned.

How come others live so delicately? Making incense sticks out of leftover tea leaves after brewing?

Not knowing everyone’s amazement, Lun Chuan continued explaining: "Due to the added ingredients, the incense fragrance doesn’t smell as nice as freshly brewed tea leaves, yet it still has the same invigorating effect."

He added: "About the Ai Cao tea you just mentioned for bathing, I think it’s possibly being wasted."

Unless they boil water regularly and utilize it collectively for baths, it would never achieve the utmost utilization and efficiency. Yet, that’s evidently unrealistic over there.

"Have you considered asking them to be patient and wait? Wait until the Dragon Boat Festival Ai Cao has the best effect to make Ai Tiao, using not just branch and leaf stems, but to make it a bit rougher."

"Once delivered, directly lit in an enclosed space, those needing guard duty can step inside for a moment, come out when unable to stand it any longer. The key is to have clothes baked inside."

"Ten minutes each time, for limited posts at the initial stage, what you’ve planted on the mountain will be more than sufficient."