Chapter Seven Leading the Way in Eating Locusts

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  Chang Sun rushed back and asked Xiaomantou and Xiaobaozi to catch locusts for him. The two little girls were frightened and refused to obey.

  "Master, you can't offend the locusts. If you catch them, they will take revenge and fly to our house." Xiaomantou shook his head to stop the master from making a mistake.

  Just looking at these two, they were so scared that it was clear they wouldn't be able to do anything. They put on their clothes and brought along their personal guards, Da Zhu and Er Zhu, and personally went out of the city. They found a sturdy burlap sack and prepared to go outside the city to catch locusts.

  Inside the Chang'an city, it's still okay, just a few locusts flying over. However, not far from the city gate, I found that there are more and more locusts. The originally lush green crops are now left with only stalks, as the leaves have been eaten almost clean.

  "Big pillar, second pillar, catch for me!" Chang Sun Chong took out a handkerchief, covered his face, and led the way into the field by the side of the road to start catching locusts.

  Many people on the side of the road watched their strange behavior, with locusts filling the sky, how could they possibly catch them? Many farmers saw that their crops had been eaten and were heartbroken. Although the government reduced taxes, without a harvest, they would still starve to death.

  These farmers watched helplessly as the locusts wreaked havoc, wishing they could crush these pests to death, but there were too many of them, and it was impossible to catch them all.

  Locusts were too many, plus two pillars, two people's hands and feet were quick, and in a short while they caught half a bag!

  Chang Sun Chong was about to leave when he saw a crowd of people gathering on the road, all of whom were honest and simple farmers. He had an idea: instead of persuading them to eat locusts, why not let them want to eat locusts themselves?

  The common people are the best salesmen. One tells ten, and then ten tell a hundred. Before you know it, everyone starts catching grasshoppers. And there are still so many of them!

  "Big pillar, is there a water source nearby?" Chang Sun was prepared to expound on the spot today, teaching them how to eat these locusts.

  Da Zhu raised his head and looked around four times, but it wasn't very clear.

  An old man in his sixties or seventies, leaning on a cane, walked over and said: "There's a small stream over there! But I'd like to ask you, what are you catching cicadas for?"

  Dazhu and Erzhu both didn't know, they looked towards Changsun in unison!

  Chang Sun coughed twice, cleared his throat and said: "These locusts eat the crops, we'll eat these locusts! It's still a meat dish!"

  The old man with white hair fell to the ground with a "thud", and Zhangsun rushed forward to help him up, saying: "Grandfather, are you okay?"

  An old man with white hair slowly stood up and begged, saying: "The locust gods are a punishment from heaven for us. As long as we let these gods eat their fill and drink enough, they will leave."

  Chang Sun's facial muscles stiffened, and the locusts had become gods. Today, he needed to give these ignorant people a lesson on the scientific knowledge of locusts.

  "Old man, these locusts are not gods or heavenly punishment. The world is mostly good people, although there are some evil-doers, but the imperial court has already punished them on behalf of heaven. As for these locusts, they are just last year's locusts that hatched eggs. Last year was a great drought, and this winter didn't snow, warmer than before, so the locusts in the soil weren't frozen to death, that's why there are so many locusts now." Zhangsun Chong explained, hoping to persuade these people today.

  The people around heard it and thought that Zhangsun Chong was right.

  "Actually, I also think that locusts are not some kind of immortal being. I remember in the past, I would string locusts on a metal wire and roast them over fire, they were quite fragrant." A younger guy reminisced about his childhood.

  "I've also had it, and it tastes pretty good, it's meat, just not much gravy!"

  "Mmm, it tastes good!"

  Chang Sun Chong heard this and thought it wouldn't be hard to convince them, so he said: "I also heard an old Daoist say that Heaven has a benevolent virtue, now the common people have no food to eat and are about to starve to death, naturally they can eat locusts! If you don't dare to eat, we'll go to the empty land by the small stream in front, I'll eat first, if the locusts are gods, then let them strike me dead on the spot! Anyway, our family has no more food and is about to starve to death."

  Everyone's eyes turned to Zhang Sun Chong, and they all showed disbelieving expressions. Who would have thought that Zhang Sun Chong, except for wearing a coarse cloth robe, looked white and chubby, not like someone who had suffered from hunger at all! On the contrary, he looked like a young master who was idle and carefree, waiting to die of gluttony!

  Dà zhù, èr zhù, duì zǐ sūn chōng zhēng yǎn shuō xiā huà, fēi cháng bù hǎo yì si, fēn fēn niǔ tóu kàn bié chù.

  Translation:

  The two pillars looked at each other and then quickly turned their heads to look elsewhere, feeling extremely embarrassed as they told nonsense to Zǐsūn.

  Chang Sun chuckled and said a few words to salvage the situation: "I'm just swollen from hunger, I'm skinny!"

  Ignoring the contemptuous look behind him, Changsun hurriedly walked ahead and arrived at the creek side, preparing to clean the locusts in his bag, but unfortunately, there was too much meat on his belly, making it impossible for him to squat down.

  "Still talking about being virtually chubby, who are you kidding!"

  "Ah, yes! The face is rosy and full of vitality!"

  Everyone pointed at Zhang Sun with fingers.

  Dà zhù, èr zhù suī rán jué de shǎo yé xiàn zài de jǔ dòng hěn guài yì, hái yào chī huáng chóng, fēi cháng bù jiě, dàn yě bù róng xǔ bié rén duì zì jiā shǎo yé zhǐ zhǐ diǎn diǎn.

  "Master, I'm coming!" Da Zhu took it over.

  "No need, no washing, Dazhu, you go pick firewood, Erzhu, you go start a fire." No washing, anyway, after being burned by the fire, bacteria will also be killed, it won't kill us if we eat it.

  Dazhu, Erzhu divided their actions, and in no time they set up a bonfire. Changsun Chong moved the bright fire to another pile, leaving behind the smoldering embers, took some locusts, buried them in the fire, and buried several piles. Before long, the bonfires emitted a meaty fragrance.

  These people may not have gone hungry at home, but every day they drink thin porridge that's almost like water. They can't even remember the last time they ate meat. When they smell the aroma of meat, they sniff it eagerly, no matter what kind of meat it is - as long as it's meat!

  Chang Sun Chong pulled out the locusts that had been roasted to perfection, with a crispy outside and tender inside, from the fire pit. The aroma of meat and spices wafted through the air, making the onlookers swallow their saliva in unison.

  After cooling down a bit, Zhangsun picked up a few and patted them in his hands to blow away the fire ash on top. Just as he was about to put them on himself, Dazhu stopped him.

  "Young master, I'll eat first, don't worry, you can eat later!" The young master wanted to grab food randomly, if something went wrong, the two brothers wouldn't have a good ending either. They were born into servitude in the Longsun family, their fate was tied to the family's prosperity and decline.

  Dà zhù, èr zhù bù róng fēn shuō, jiǎn qǐ dì shàng de huáng chóng, jiù wǎng zuǐ lǐ sāi, qiáng rěn zhù ě xin ǒu tù, yìng zhe tóu pí chī xià qù.

  Translation:

  Big pillar, two pillars cannot be separated, pick up the locusts on the ground and stuff them into his mouth, forcing himself to swallow despite feeling nauseous and vomiting, and eat them with a hard scalp.

  Two guards were very loyal, he knew that the locusts had eaten nothing, but these two brothers did not know. From their expression of viewing death as a return, it can be seen that they are really risking their lives. Based on the performance of these two people today, such people deserve to be reused by Zhang Chong.

  As the people around prepared to watch the heavenly thunderbolt strike and kill these few reckless individuals, Dazhu, Erzhu, and Changsun continued eating with relish, their expressions changing from disgust to savoring every bite.

  When the first batch of roasted locusts was eaten up, these three people had nothing but a black smudge on their mouths.

  "Big brother, this locust is quite edible, I haven't eaten meat for half a month!" Er Zhu already knew that the thing was not poisonous and tasted good, so he smiled and said, "Later, catch some more to take back and cook for Father and Mother!"

  Dazhu nodded, these days the master had rarely eaten meat, let alone them, who were just servants.

  Many people saw that Changsun Chong and the other two were eating with relish, and some unbelievers, attracted by the fragrance, caught locusts one after another, preparing to try them out. Even if they were punished by heaven, they would rather eat than starve to death!

  An old man with white hair took a few roasted grasshoppers from the hands of Erzhī, and put them into his mouth which only had one upper tooth and one lower tooth left, chewing carefully.

  "Ah, tastes good!" The white-haired old man ate a few and made some more to throw into the fire pit. He felt that he was already 60 or 70 years old, had lived long enough, and should eat his fill first.

  Others were also constantly swallowing their saliva, and compared with hunger, the punishment of the gods was temporarily thrown to the back of their minds.

  "Old man, your mouth is not good, you can put these locusts in water to clean them up, dry them in the sun, grind them into powder on a stone slab, make them into cakes or mix with wild vegetables to make a kind of rice ball, it's suitable for you to eat. If there's oil at home, fry them, oh my, they're not inferior to mountain delicacies!" Long Sun saw the old man eating something and his mouth kept moving, he couldn't bear it.

  "Alright, alright!" The old man's family had four generations living together, with sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons all in one big pile. The food at home had been eaten up long ago, and the family hadn't cooked rice for several days already. They could only go around looking for wild vegetables to eat. Seeing the little children gathered around him saying they were hungry, he couldn't bear it. So he decided to starve to death outside by himself, not going back home, in order to save some food for the little ones to eat. This old body of his had lived long enough anyway.

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