The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 8: Reluctant to Eat
Silent all night.

In the early morning, the sunlight passed through the crown of the ginkgo tree, then through the window glass, and shone into Yue Wenxuan's room. The mottled golden light and shadow gave the whole room a dreamy color.

Yue Wenxuan opened his eyes and picked up his phone immediately.

The video I uploaded yesterday has become quite popular. In just one night, it has been played 6.8 times, received 432 likes, 332 comments, and gained 182 new followers.

There had never been a video so popular before. Yue Wenxuan was a little excited and quickly clicked on the comment section. Comments appeared in front of him: "300 fans to do such a big thing..."

"You're late. Yesterday he only had 200 followers."

"The special effects of this plastic man's battle are so well done, his movements are as flexible as a real person."

"I have this Guan Yu figurine too, the same style, hahaha! Seeing this figurine slashing people with a sword is so funny. Is this an AI-generated action?"

"I also want this Guan Yu figurine. Can you give me a link?"

"If you look closely, the Guan Yu figurine isn't as detailed as the Jin soldiers. The Jin soldiers are truly high-quality figurines, with meticulous workmanship and every detail considered, making them lifelike."

"Where can I buy this Jin Bing figurine? I've searched Taobao, Pinxixi, and JD.com, but I can't find it."

"Silly, this is a computer-generated special effect, not a real figurine. Only special effects can achieve such details, not a real figurine."

The comment section was bustling with activity, with people chatting enthusiastically and many people even tagged their friends to come and take a look.

Yue Wenxuan was secretly delighted. This was a great start. He'd already confirmed that this type of video would be a hit. He could continue to release similar videos. As long as the theme stayed consistent and the quality didn't decline, his followers would steadily grow. Once he reached a certain number of followers, he could start earning money through advertising and other means.

I pulled myself together, sat up in bed, and moved all my cameras, pan/tilt heads, tripods, and other gadgets to the sandbox. I set them up around the sandbox and started recording 24 hours a day, capturing every wonderful moment...

The scenery in the sandbox is different from yesterday.

After a whole day of hard work, several simple wooden sheds were built in the small valley. The rebel soldiers rested in these sheds last night. When Yue Wenxuan came over to take a look, he happened to see Madam Gong Er coming out of a separate small wooden shed.

Today she was not wearing armor, but a red undershirt that she had hidden under her armor yesterday, which revealed some of her body curves. She was thin and seemed to be not well nourished.

Yue Wenxuan remembered that when she introduced herself, she said that her father Gong Yi was just an ordinary Song soldier.

At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, military preparations were neglected and the army was rotten to the core. Officers at all levels were routinely taking salaries without working and withholding soldiers' rations. "Soldiers were missing half of their monthly rations, and only received one-third of the food money they requested." "Recently, a soldier asked for 100 food money, two and a half liters of rice, to feed three or four people... and even wanted a cup of hot water... but was not given."

An ordinary soldier's family can't even afford the charcoal to boil water, so how can they feed their daughter?

Yue Wenxuan glanced at the other people again. Except for Qian Zhuoqun who was pale and plump, the rest of them looked malnourished.

How can we resist the Jin with this physical condition?

The rebel soldiers began to boil water and cook noodles. Yue Wenxuan saw a group of people walking back from outside the camp, clutching handfuls of wild vegetables and smiling. A skinny man said as he walked, "The immortal noodles that Master Wenxuan gave us yesterday were ground so finely, as white as snow. I'm afraid even the emperor has never seen them before."

Another man said, "There's not a speck of sand in it! I haven't eaten rice or flour without sand in it in years."

"Yes, yes." Another tall, thin man with thick bones but little flesh said, "If I could eat rice and flour without sand in it every day, I would be able to close my eyes even if I died."

"What are you dreaming about?" Someone laughed and scolded, "Poor people like us can't even dream of such a good thing."

The tall, thin man said, "Why can't we think about it? The True Lord said he would send us some food."

"How could the gods in heaven always be thinking about little people like us? We got a lot of immortal food yesterday, but why did we only have a full meal yesterday? Starting today, Brother Qian will only give us half a catty each? He's worried that the True Lord won't come again, understand?"

The tall and thin man fell silent. After thinking it over, he really felt that what he said made sense. He sighed deeply. Eating rice and flour without sand every day was an unattainable dream after all. He didn't dare to do it even in his dreams. He could only wave the wild vegetables in his hand and said: "Let's mix more wild vegetables into the immortal grain. It will last longer. We can't let our tempers ruin the immortal grain."

"I'm glad you understand."

The group walked to the stream, cleaned the wild vegetables, put them into the pot, and mixed them with the noodles.
Yue Wenxuan frowned. "So that's how it is!" These rebels were poor people, suffering for so long that they didn't dare believe in fairy tales. Even though they had received the support of the gods yesterday, they preferred to believe it was just a momentary whim, not that the gods would always support them.

We need to give them some more shocking news to reassure them and let them know that Master Wenxuan will not abandon them.

Yue Wenxuan picked up Guan Erye and placed it by the stream.

The tall and thin man was using a piece of wood as a spoon. He picked up a piece of dough from the pot and blew on it. Suddenly, the sky was filled with wind and clouds, and Guan Erye fell from the sky. With a bang, he and his Red Hare landed in front of him.

The tall and thin man was so frightened that he screamed "Wow" and his hand shook, and the dough lump on the wood chip slid to the ground.

That was precious food, how could it be wasted? The tall and thin man quickly grabbed the dough lump with his left hand in mid-air and held it in his palm. However, the dough lump had just come out of the pot and was extremely hot. His left palm could not bear the heat, so he quickly threw it upwards again, and the dough lump flew up. He grabbed it with his right hand again, and threw it up again because it was too hot. Then he took turns catching and throwing it with both hands, as if he was performing an acrobatic trick.

After tossing it several times, the dough was finally no longer hot, so he threw it into his mouth and held it in his mouth.

Only then did he realize that all his colleagues around him had already prostrated themselves on the ground, saying in unison, "Greetings to Master Guan Er."

The tall, thin man was terrified. Oh no, I'm the only one who didn't bow. Isn't that extremely rude? He quickly and frantically followed suit and fell to the ground. He was a beat late. After everyone else had finished shouting "Greetings, Guan Erye," he finally followed suit and shouted, "Greetings, Guan Erye."

It really became a conspicuous bag.

Sweat flowed down in beads.

Not far away, the two rebel leaders, Gong Er Niangzi and Qian Zhuoqun, also rushed over and said, "Greetings to Master Guan Er!"

(End of this chapter)