Published: March 11, 2025
Chapter 41: Oath
The slaves were not fools, and almost all of them could cook. In the past, when they were under other slave owners, every meal time, the overseers would randomly select two people from their group to prepare the food. So these slaves were not unfamiliar with cooking.
Additionally, making rice was quite simple, so it didn't take long for the slaves to fill the seven pots with rice. Zhao Hai then took out several large copper basins for them to use as lids.
These field kitchens did not have proper lids, and they didn't need them. Everyone knew that these field kitchens were not even used by regular armies; only slaves used them. For slaves, being given something to eat was already a luxury, so who cared about whether the food was good or not?
However, those slaves had never made soup before, so they didn't know how to do it. At their previous slave owners' places, the food they ate was worse than what they received from the Budah family. Sometimes, they could only eat something like rice husks or already moldy rice. Because of this, many slaves died every day on the continent. But for slave owners, the death of slaves was nothing significant; they would just buy more.
So these slaves were now staring blankly at the vegetables and fruit oil. Ju, of course, understood their feelings. After all, she used to be a commoner and knew a bit about simple dishes.
Ju walked to an empty pot, picked up the fruit oil, and poured it into the pot. This was when Zhao Hai first seriously noticed this fruit oil. It had a slightly yellow color and was very clear. It was said to be made from a type of fruit that had a very high oil content, which was grown in many places on the continent, making it quite cheap.
After the oil heated up, Ju added the vegetables into the pot for a simple stir-fry, then poured in a bit of water, followed by two pieces of coarse salt. As long as the water boiled, the soup would be ready.
This was the simplest of soups, almost devoid of any technical skills, with no seasonings, only a little coarse salt. This was already the best treatment for the slaves.
On the continent, salt was not cheap. The refined salt used by nobles was very fine, similar to the refined salt on Earth, while the coarse salt used by slaves was very cheap, but of course, it also contained many impurities.
Even so, except for the Budah family, these slaves did not get to eat salt every day. Other slave owners would allow them to eat salt once every three days, which was considered generous. Most slave owners only allowed their slaves to eat salt once a week, and even then, the quantity was minimal.
Zhao Hai had been busy with matters in the space and the future development of the Black Earth Wilderness, so he wasn't fully aware of the living conditions of these slaves. He didn't see anything wrong with what Ju was doing; he thought all slaves on the continent lived like this, and perhaps the slaves in their family had it even worse since they didn't have many resources to provide for them.
Looking at Ju making that simple soup, Zhao Hai couldn't help but sigh. Meg, standing beside him, asked in confusion, "Young master, what's wrong? Is there a problem? Did they use too much salt? Should we reduce it?"
Zhao Hai looked at Meg, puzzled, and said, "Too much? How can it be too much? In such a big pot, they used so little salt, how can that be too much? I'm just thinking, our Budah family is still too weak, only able to let them eat such simple food. Once we have money in the future, I will definitely let them eat meat."
As soon as Zhao Hai finished speaking, he felt that everyone's gaze towards him was a bit off. The slaves looked at him with a ghostly expression, leaving Zhao Hai confused about what was happening.
He looked at Meg and whispered, "Meg, what's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"
Meg, seeing Zhao Hai's expression, silently sighed. She knew that although the Budah family had slaves before, Zhao Hai had never left the Imperial Capital or interacted with those slaves, so he naturally didn't know what kind of life they led, which was why he said such things. She had to quietly explain the living conditions of those slaves to Zhao Hai.