Dinner was held in the open courtyard of the Clan Leader's house, divided into two tables, mainly featuring seafood, eaten while enjoying the sea breeze. Crabs, shrimp, mantis shrimp, mussels—everything you could think of. A seafood feast highly valued in later generations was not considered a luxury here at all.
The seafood was freshly caught by the clan, while the meat and eggs were gathered from those attending the meal, and the Clan Leader's family provided the firewood and rice.
To the people of Lin Family Manor, seafood couldn't fill the stomach and eating too much could cause joint pain and swelling. Meat and rice were the real rarities. But for Lin Wanwan, this was her first clan meal in the Lin family of the Tang Dynasty a thousand years ago, making it quite an intriguing experience. Most importantly, the people here were very hospitable to her.
This warmth was perfectly balanced by blood ties and family feelings, without causing offense. Unlike the modern times, where attentiveness often had ulterior motives. During the meal, the Lin Clan Leader even publicly announced that a piece of land would be allocated to build a house for Lin Wanwan. Since she had returned to the clan, she naturally needed her own homestead, and no one objected.
After all, in this remote coastal mountain valley, fertile land was scarce, with rocky terrains most abundant.
"Auntie, you have to eat meat, eat meat!" urged the Clan Leader's wife, Mrs. Lin Niu, enthusiastically offering her a piece of fatty meat.
Lin Wanwan quickly blocked her bowl, decisively saying, "Aunt, I don't like fatty meat! Really, I'm not being polite, I like seafood, it's delicious!"
"Who doesn't like fatty meat? Hahaha, how could that be!" Everyone burst into laughter, and Lin Wanwan followed with a faint smile.
The Clan Leader's wife was so courteous to Lin Wanwan because of the glass jar filled with brown sugar that Lin Wanwan had gifted.
A kitchen set worth only 129 yuan in the modern era could be considered a family heirloom in the Tang Dynasty.
"Aunt, you and Little Jade will stay at my house tonight, the beds and rooms are already prepared." said Mrs. Lin Qin.
Mrs. Chen of Lin Mengjin's family chimed in: "Yes, yes, yes. Waiting for your arrival, Mengbo's family cleaned the house of his parents, and the bedding has just been sun-dried, so rest assured!"
Lin Wanwan thanked them: "Sister-in-law, you are so considerate."
Mrs. Lin Qin quickly replied: "No, no, it's as it should be, you are a great benefactor to our family."
This dinner was the most satisfying meal Lin Wanwan had since arriving in the Tang Dynasty, filled entirely with large seafood, something you couldn't get in modern times without spending five or six thousand.
Seafood is different from meat and vegetables because coming from the sea, it naturally has some saltiness. Even if people were reluctant to use salt, just steaming it with plain water was flavorful enough!
All the seafood on this table was wild-caught! In this month, with modern times having a fishing moratorium, you couldn't get seafood this big.
When the rice was served, Lin Wanwan noticed a mixture of something unknown in the rice. A single bite scratched her throat, making it hard to swallow. She came to realize that after all, this was a materially scarce small fishing village in the Tang Dynasty, where even a bowl of white rice was a luxury.
Yet, despite this, this mixed-with-whatever rice was already something they would use to entertain guests, surely something they would not eat regularly.
However, it was not suitable for children to eat. Lin Wanwan feared that the intestinal health she had just improved with probiotics and millet for little Lin Qingyu might be compromised.
So she took out a special ceramic bowl for little Lin Qingyu, poured hot water at the stove, adjusted the temperature, and quickly prepared rice cereal mixed with meat floss and dried vegetables.
Actually, for Lin Qingyu, who was four years old, there was no need for rice cereal anymore. But Lin Wanwan discovered the little one's digestive system was poor, alternating between constipation and diarrhea, so she purchased quite a bit of modern nutritious rice cereal stored in ceramic jars for Lin Qingyu.
Seeing the dinner Lin Wanwan prepared for little Lin Qingyu, everyone's eyes were wide open.
The two grandchildren of the Clan Leader couldn't help drooling and kept asking, "Little Jade, what is this? Is it good? Is it delicious?"
"Yes, everything mom makes is delicious." Since coming to Lin Family Manor, Little Jade had been very downcast, and when answering others, her voice was like a mosquito's murmur. Everyone just thought she was shy from seeing so many strangers due to her young age.
Lin Wanwan had prepared a lot, and when a few little ones asked questions, she gave each a big spoonful in their bowls: "Try it, this is instant rice cereal made by Auntie."
"Oh dear, what a waste to give them such good stuff, save it for Little Jade."
Although everyone said so, their smiles betrayed their true feelings.
Even the men at the nearby table couldn't help but turn their heads. Typically, these strong laborers would eat the best and most food at home to have the strength to fish at sea. Now, it was the children who ate first.
"Delicious! Mom, it's so good, with a meaty flavor! The yellow strands taste like jerky!"
The children didn't eat alone; they each took their bowls to let their parents taste it.
Watching this, Lin Wanwan couldn't help but sigh. Although there was no white rice and conditions were tough, the family bonds were strong, and that was even more precious.
Thinking of this, Lin Wanwan did a quick mental count and brought it up: "This time I brought a box of grain seeds when I came to the clan. I have this hybrid rice seed that yields eighteen to nineteen shi per mu."
In the Tang Dynasty, one shi was fifty-three kilograms. Under normal planting conditions, modern hybrid rice yields twelve hundred kilograms per mu, which converts to eighteen or nineteen shi.
"Clatter!" Chopsticks uniformly fell to the ground, and all eyes fixed tightly on her, repeating in unison: "How much? Eighteen, nineteen shi?"
Lin Wanwan reaffirmed it.
Lin Mengbo exclaimed incredulously, "How is that planted? How is that possible? We think it's good if our rice yields over two shi per mu!"
Lin Wanwan softly explained, "Because my master loves rice and wants to eat white rice every day but doesn't have the patience to toil in the fields every day, so he developed hybrid rice, which yields a lot. Enough so we can eat it every day, at every meal."
The taste of hybrid rice is not as good as japonica rice, but when everyone struggles even to get enough to eat, who cares about taste? It surely tastes better than rice mixed with bran and various odds and ends!
This was also why Lin Wanwan chose hybrid rice seeds. Since she was here, she naturally wanted to bring some benefits to the Lin family of a thousand years ago—these were her ancestors after all.
After a moment of silence, everyone laughed, not believing at all, thinking this young lady, living a carefree life on the mountain with an old immortal, wouldn't know anything about farming!
Listen to what she's saying, eighteen, nineteen shi! How could farmland be a game? Impossible!
Elderly folks who've been farming all their lives could vouch that in the best years without disasters, the yield of rice wouldn't exceed two shi!
Eighteen, nineteen shi! This young immortal lady who doesn't know the hardships of the world is speaking so casually.