The city was under siege, so everyone knew that grain was precious now. Because of that, these ten‑odd households couldn't bear to eat the newly bought grain and were still eating the old stock at home. Only one household had run out of salt and was planning to eat the newly bought poisoned salt tonight.
But this family was too poor to bear using salt in every meal; they were planning to just sprinkle a bit of salt when cooking the dishes at night to add some flavor, so they escaped disaster.
When they saw Squad Leader Lou bringing people to search, they thought their family had committed some crime and brought the government office down on them, and were so frightened they all went down on their knees.
Squad Leader Lou had no time to explain much to them; he immediately searched out all the grain and salt in the house, and even took away the pot of mixed‑grain porridge that was still cooking.
