Ch44.2 - A Crazy Banquet (Part Two)

Soon, the news spread all over the fief.

Next season, everyone could receive one-third of their own beet seeds, plant beets, and make brown sugar in the Lord’s mill for their own use.

Even if the rental fee for the sugar mill is very high, it was to make the even more expensive brown sugar. In an instant, all the farmers were eager to start planting sugar beets immediately. It would be best if they could grow it three seasons a year…

Unfortunately, with Northumberland’s climate, they couldn’t plant it in three seasons or even two seasons. They could only plant the crop in one. 

This crop produced about 1 ton of brown sugar for Northumberland in a short time.

Most of the saline-alkali land was used to grow brown sugar. Even if the sugar yield of sugar beet was not as high as that of sugarcane or of later eras, the sugar beet of dozens of Mu could still produce a ton of sugar.

Salt was already very expensive, but there were different types of salt including sea salt, well salt and mineral salt. At present, only honey and a very small amount of brown sugar imported from abroad are sweeteners. Therefore, sugar is more expensive than salt and is even used as a panacea.

Even if some were given to the church, there would be enough left to make Northumberland stand out from the crowd. Cui QiChao told them not to sell it all at once. First, wait for the church to act on this. They can slowly exchange some necessities such as food, iron, and salt, store more food and build farm tools.

So, the Northumberland trade team set off again soon. This time, they brought cans of brown sugar instead of grain for exchange.

As the leader of the team again, Raymond’s hands trembled when he took over the task. What’s the difference between a cart of sugar and a cart of gold in this era? Even if there is a difference, the price of sugar is higher.

“It’s going to be fine. Don’t be nervous.” Cui QiChao comforted, “I’ll repeat the usual thing I’ve said. First, protect yourself. If you see suitable talents outside, such as blacksmiths, you can also bring them back.”

This time, the number of people in the trade team also increased, and some peasant soldiers were added in to properly protect these priceless sugar cans. 

There was no problem with internal security. The knights’ fief is Northumberland and they kept a lookout as the serfs’ soldiers. In return, the serfs and their families could safely grow sugar beets and continue increasing the grain yield. Wouldn’t this arrangement be more pleasant than stealing sugar and running away with it?

Besides, one only had to think about the divine punishment; the guy who stole the Lord’s manure had received and no one dared to act rashly.

Before the trade team set out, Northumberland held a whole sugar feast that was unprecedented, at least on this continent.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Their Lord, who loved enjoyment, created a fairyland in the mortal realm. 

He wantonly squandered brown sugar. The long table was filled with brown sugar bread, brown sugar boiled apples, brown sugar roast meat, brown sugar oatmeal biscuits, brown sugar almond tea, brown sugar pumpkin soup, brown sugar boiled eggs… and etc.

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This is too crazy!! 

Even if the steward knows how much sugar there is in the Lord’s warehouse, because it was his long-standing wish to obtain sugar, it still made his head dizzy in the face of such high intensity of consumption of sugar.

Even the most absurd king wouldn’t act this way. Each dish was full of brown sugar, instead of carefully picking up a little and putting it into food and tea.

The cook’s hands trembled when making the food. Her clean hands didn’t have the courage to add a lot of sugar at all. It was Cui QiChao who patted her wrist before she poured the brown sugar into the flour. At that time, she screamed.

After cooking all the dishes, the cook held up two hands and said to everyone: “I, I think my hands are very expensive now…” 

No one could object. It’s truly too extravagant after adding the dense brown sugar. Even the whole kitchen is filled with sweetness, which caused everyone there to feel as if they entered a fairyland.

The cook could even coax her children in her home to sleep with her fingers, letting them suck on the aftertaste of sugar on her fingers.

.

When the banquet started, the knights, attendants and the peasant soldiers of the trade team who came to the hall who were specially invited here were stunned and suspected that they were dreaming. 

What kind of wonderful dream is this, for such a grand scene to appear before their eyes?

The wheat used to make bread is very clean. With brown sugar, it presents a brown and sweet taste. One can smell it from a distance, and each bite is full of sweetness.

The tea, soup, and meat were filled with the scent of brown sugar. The braised meat is sweet and soft. The pumpkin soup utilized pumpkin meat, cooked in brown sugar, boiled until it was sweet, waxy and powdery. Everyone was also very satisfied with the warm desserts. They were also deeply fond of the brown sugar decoration on the table. No one could bear to eat it.

They crazily tasted the food and decided that heaven may just be what they experienced. Their Northumberland was a fairyland on earth. 

For the peasant soldiers who haven’t eaten much sweetener in their first half of life, it’s almost the first time they ate a full feast made using brown sugar. After the meal, they got to understand what the words “cloying” and “sickening” meant.

In fact, the sugar in each dish is generous but not too much. It made the dish taste excellent. But this is a “sugar” banquet, there is no other taste other than sweetness.

When you eat the whole sugar feast until your mouth is filled with only sweetness, and even the tea that reduced greasiness tasted sweet, you’ll find yourself missing the light and unpalatable oatmeal mush… this is truly incredulous.

It was also at this time that the Lord asked someone to bring barley tea. At this time, no one had ever tasted the taste of the tea. After frying and crushing the barley, it was filtered and brewed into tea. It had a strong wheaty aroma and the tea tasted a little bitter. When these people who ate too much sugar drank it, it tasted just right. It can not only relieve the cloy taste, but also relieve their intestines and stomach after gulping down all the food. 

Moments ago, it was as if the banquet guests who were trapped in magic were drinking barley tea with their eyes straight. Then, they caught a glimpse of the Lord who was still sitting calmly at the top, with normal white bread, meat and barley tea in front of him. The only food containing brown sugar was the brown sugar oatmeal biscuits.

Lance was also having a normal meal, but he was chewing a sword-shaped sugar with relish and satisfaction.

Raymond’s head was crooked, and he didn’t care about displaying any aristocratic etiquette. He sighed in his heart and muttered that the Lord’s self-control was too strong. On the one hand, he entertained everyone wantonly, even to the point of where they would feel it’s surreal for such things to happen. On the other hand, the Lord himself only enjoyed brown sugar biscuits, which were made of oats. He had been watching everyone revel just now.

Although the Baron was not keen on using brute force, Raymond admires him a lot. The Lord understands everyone’s wishes deep down in his heart. But the Lord wouldn’t lose a sense of measure. 

——It can only be said that Raymond was thinking too much. Even if Cui QiChao was short of sugar and salt for a few years, he would only eat an appropriate amount of sugar. There was no need to eat the native-produced brown sugar so crazily.

Which member of the trade team hadn’t thought of adding some brown sugar to their food when journeying? This was something they all knew tacitly. Besides, the Lord never treats everyone badly in terms of giving them food.

Who would have known that after the whole sugar feast, everyone felt that they had no craving for brown sugar for at least a month? They may be the first people in this era who had so much sugar it hurt.

There was still a great sense of satisfaction after the feast. This meal is enough for them to talk about for ten or twenty years. This was not a time where brown sugar was abundant and the price was not inflated. They felt like the most distinguished people after the brown sugar banquet. 

Unfortunately, in the world outside their territory, even if they didn’t exaggerate the details of the banquet, many people were unwilling to believe what happened, or directly regarded it as a legend.

Only Northumberland’s people would believe what occurred and imagine what it was like in their minds.

The rest of the food from the whole sugar banquet was packed and distributed to their family members. At the same time, after the trade team left, the matter of the feast was spread through the mouths of the trade team’s family members and the castle’s servants.

That little leftover soup was the only evidence left. It causes people to rack their brains to imagine what kind of crazy banquet could make the peasant soldiers eat so much sugar that they would rather drink barley water, that is, barley tea, to alleviate the sweetness in their mouth. 

.

Cui QiChao asked the cook to make some nut hotteok and take them back as snacks. Cui QiChao came from an era when there was no shortage of raw ingredients. A piece of hotteok and barley tea would take a long time for the cook to eat.

The three cats had a strong interest in cloth-wrapped hotteok, especially DaBai and DaJu. As cats born in the middle ages, they were not particularly keen on solely sugar, but were interested in all food.

“Sit down.” Because there are all kinds of nuts in it, and many nuts are harmful to cats, Cui QiChao only ordered them to sit down and didn’t intend to let them eat. 

Cui QiChao took out a small piece and bit it. He reasoned, “This is not suitable for you. I’ll let the kitchen cook some salmon later.”

XiaoBai’s head swung around. Then, it stared at Cui QiChao. With a dark smile in its heart, it suddenly clambered up on his clothes, pretending as if it was seeking for sugar. Mouth wide open, it bit down on Cui QiChao’s mouth. It looked like it was trying to scare Cui QiChao.

Unfortunately, it was a pity Cui QiChao rarely lost his mind. When he saw XiaoBai coming up, he didn’t dodge at all. Instead, he opened his mouth, expressionlessly revealing the hotteok inside.

XiaoBai only hesitated for a short moment. 

Cui QiChao: “If you want to bite the hotteok, I’ll bite your head too.”

XiaoBai: “……”

Why was he using the tactic of fighting poison with poison? Has Cui QiChao gone nuts??

Besides, why should Cui QiChao bite its head when it bit on the hotteok? Why is he so unreasonable?? 

It was also at this time that it saw that Cui QiChao had two canine sharp teeth, looking like a tiger’s canine. But the teeth looked far less playful on his face.

One man and one cat looked at each other with their mouths open.

DaBai and DaJu looked at the scene with their eyes wide open and neck elongated.

Cui QiChao had to wash his hands when he touched the cat. This cat wanted to go against the heavens for its nose to dare to meet Cui QiChao’s nose. Was Cui QiChao really intending to bite off its cat’s head? 

It’s hard to say, because Cui QiChao, this person, appeared genuine, but is actually nasty. If Cui QiChao is really sick in the mind, would he bite down on its cat head with one bite…

After careful consideration, XiaoBai rolls its tongue around his mouth as if nothing had happened. Then, it went along the flow and shut its mouth, placing its front paws down.

Cui QiChao, seeing this, shut his mouth too. He rubbed XiaoBai’s head twice, looked at his hand and said, “Could it be that XiaoBai went to steal salt to eat? It seems like its losing some fur, and is going to be bald soon.”

XiaoBai: “……” 

T/N: Sorry it took me so long to upload this chapter, I was toggling with the pictures and it took me a while to put all of them into the chapter.