The truck was here to deliver furniture, and Sophia quickly calmed down.
She led the truck driver and another man to move the bed and wardrobe into the house.
As for the dining table and the double-door refrigerator, Sophia didn't let them bring those into the kitchen.
"Just leave them here in the main room for now. The kitchen's not cleaned up yet. I'll find someone to move them later. You guys are really fast."
She smiled, trying to change the subject.
The two delivery workers took the bottled drinks Sophia handed to them.
"Turns out we had to deliver to the village next to yours anyway, so it worked out. Otherwise, it would've taken another two days before we could get here."
After chatting briefly, the two delivery workers left quickly since they had more deliveries to make.
When she saw the truck drive off, Sophia finally let out a small sigh of relief.
Just thinking about that box full of gold and silver jewelry hidden in the kitchen made her speechless for a moment. Her heart was pounding hard.
She couldn't help wondering: Was it because the pig trough drank too much water yesterday that it spat out all those treasures?
Only now did the pig trough truly stir Sophia's curiosity.
She had originally planned to go out again after unloading the truck and buy ten piglets.
But that plan would have to wait for now.
Sophia locked the front door tightly, then returned to the kitchen.
Almost as if needing to confirm something, she pulled the box out again.
"Wow... If I'm not wrong, this box is made from huanglihua wood, right?"
She had been in a rush earlier and hadn't taken a closer look. Now she realized the box alone was worth a lot of money.
Her heart was racing with excitement. She grabbed the half-side of pork she had tossed near the stove earlier, planning to feed it to the pig trough.
When she had bought the meat, she asked the butcher to divide it into four portions, which came in handy now.
She grabbed two bags and poured the pork into the pig trough.
"Eat, eat, eat! Eat as much as you want!"
Sophia's feelings were all over the place, but her hands were very steady.
The three bags of pork piled high inside the pig trough.
Honestly, if not for the belief that "nothing can become a spirit after the founding of the country," she would've suspected this pig trough had come to life and wanted to worship it.
After she finished feeding it, she sat beside the trough, respectfully watching and waiting for it to absorb the offering.
About five minutes later, the pork disappeared just like that.
Sophia stood up, thinking for a moment. If there was one thing she had plenty of at home, it was food supplies. Hadn't she just bought nearly a thousand kilos of rice and flour?
With that in mind, she carried over a bag of rice about 50 kilos, which would only fill the trough halfway.
She noticed that the trough was still greasy from the pork earlier.
So she grabbed some dish soap and thoroughly washed the trough, inside and out.
This was her lucky charm, after all!
After washing it, she wiped it dry with a clean cloth.
Then she opened two bags of rice and poured them in, filling the trough until it was heaping.
She followed that with two bags of flour.
Watching the rice and flour vanish one after another gave Sophia a strange sense of satisfaction.
...
General Ulric nervously made his offering to the deity, and just like that, the chest full of gold and silver vanished.
He was a little worried but also excited, hoping the deity would bless them again with more gifts.
He had been trailing behind General Yves all morning.
General Yves finally stopped and turned to glance at him. "Seems like you're really bored, huh?"
Ulric's scalp tingled, unsure whether to leave or stay.
Right then, with a loud whoosh, something suddenly dropped in front of them, carrying a strong, raw meat smell.
General Ulric reacted quickly and smiled right away. "General Yves, the god has given us more supplies!"
Without waiting for General Yves to say anything, he told his men to bring containers immediately.
"General, it looks like a pig's head. And it's already cleaned!"
Ulric's eyes lit up with excitement.
From what happened before, he knew that the meat would fall quickly, so before the containers arrived, he rushed to push the falling meat pieces to the side.
Just as he expected, after the meat stopped falling and while the servants were filling the buckets, a sudden splash of water poured down from above.
The meat was packed and filled two wooden buckets to the top.
Ulric waved for the servants to leave. He was just about to speak to General Yves when a soft rustling sound could be heard.
White grains of rice slowly started falling down.
Ulric's eyes shined again. He quickly got to work and didn't forget to have someone bring a chair for General Yves to sit.
After everything was settled, Ulric's joy was written all over his face. "General, we may be able to head south again soon."
General Yves sat in the large chair, resting his head on his hand. He slowly opened his eyes, and there was a look of sarcasm in them.
He said nothing, but Ulric understood right away.
"General, I think maybe we didn't do things the right way. Maybe the god didn't get our message clearly."
General Yves closed his eyes again, clearly trying to stay calm.
For thirty to fifty thousand soldiers, this amount of food would never be enough. They would all starve.
Suddenly, General Yves stood up and told his assistant, "Call in ten scout leaders."
Ulric was still thinking about how to send the right message to the god. He had no experience in this kind of thing, so he had asked his men to collect any useful information.
When Ulric came back to his senses, General Yves was already gone.
There were two hundred pounds of rice, two hundred pounds of flour, and some dozens of pounds of pork. General Yves didn't need to take care of that himself. He just gave orders for it to be cooked.
If shared among thirty to fifty thousand people, it might only be enough for one mouthful of rice soup each.
Ulric gave each officer half a pound of meat. The rest was sent to the main army camp.
After giving all the instructions, Ulric asked where General Yves was and was told he was in the study. He went there.
He knocked on the door and entered. General Yves was giving instructions to the ten scout leaders.
"Search the area within ten miles of Xiahe Village. Each of you go in a different direction. The goal this time is to find food."
Each scout leader led a team. During wartime, they were in charge of gathering enemy information and checking terrain.
But now, during this time of rest, when food and water were running low, they were sent to search for supplies.
When Ulric walked in, the ten leaders were just about to leave.
He thought General Yves was alone. But when he stepped inside, he saw Howell standing beside him in the light.
Howell was speaking to General Yves. "General, if we really run out of options, I think maybe we should…"
Ulric quickly interrupted. "Howell, we're not out of options yet."
He then told them about the food and water sent by the god.
After hearing it all, Howell gave a short laugh. "General Ulric, I didn't expect a strong, experienced general like you to believe in such things. This is nonsense."
Howell believed the same as General Yves. He thought the enemy was playing tricks and the truth hadn't been discovered yet.
"Even if there really is a god, maybe they can help ten people or even a hundred people. But can they really help thousands or tens of thousands? I thought you, as a general, would understand that relying on others doesn't work as well as relying on ourselves."
Ulric's dark face turned a little red. He wasn't good at arguing.
General Yves listened to Howell and slightly frowned. He thought again about that strange and unexplainable dream.
"Enough. Go and carry out your orders."
In the end, he still allowed Ulric's plan to continue.