British hegemon

Chapter 20 A Clumsy Counter-Espionage Scheme

It was nearing noon, in an open space about ten steps away from the mill.

The damp weeds burned slowly in the fire, sending up thick smoke. The pirates didn't consider themselves outsiders and weren't worried at all that the smoke would give them away.

A deep iron pot hung in the smoke of the campfire. Two pirate henchmen, one old and one young, poured coarsely ground wheat flour mixed with bran into the bubbling pot, stirring it constantly with a ladle.

Once it was almost mixed, I threw in a large handful of miscellaneous vegetables: onions, peas, leafy greens, root vegetables, and a few wild vegetables whose names I couldn't recall, and then stirred it a couple more times.

The fourteen or fifteen-year-old henchman cut a finger-sized chunk of butter and threw it in, while the older pirate henchman carefully took out a parchment packet from his pocket, opened it, and shook in a few clumps of hardened salt while stirring.

After a while, the old henchman estimated that the salt had almost dissolved, lifted the ladle to his lips, licked it, and nodded in satisfaction.

Don't imagine the pirates' lives to be idyllic. Apart from the occasional special meal that the pirate leaders could enjoy, most of the time, their food was no more appealing than what an ordinary farmer would eat.

Pirates, after all, engaged in shady dealings, and even if they had money, they dared not squander it.

Beside the campfire, Ponytail sat quietly against the pile of burning weeds, her braids tied up again. She had just changed into a tattered linen coat, which she had stolen from some unfortunate fisherman, and it smelled strongly of fish.

However, the man with the ponytail was completely oblivious to the stench emanating from his body. His eyes were fixed on the wheat paste dripping from the ladle in the old pirate's hand, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed repeatedly.

After running ten miles of mountain roads, and enduring beatings and scoldings, the little bit of bread and pea puree I ate before dawn had long been digested.

"Hungry?" The old henchman noticed the ponytail's expression and asked, holding a ladle.

The old henchman was thin and haggard, with deep wrinkles on his neck and deep scars on his hands from when he used ropes to pull big fish.

He was originally just an honest fisherman in the north of the island. Two years ago, his fishing boat was capsized in a storm, and his family members, who had lost their source of income, starved and died of illness one after another, leaving them with no way out.

Because he was related to the Ulf family, he went to sea with Ulf this spring to become a pirate. He didn't dare to kill or rob on a daily basis, and could only do some rough work such as starting fires and cooking. Occasionally, he would also do some work on the ship, such as handling the sails and rowing. He could barely be considered a big boss's man.

But in reality, Ulf was not satisfied with this distant old relative and would often beat and scold him.

The woman with the ponytail wished she could bury her head in the deep pot. She nodded repeatedly after hearing the old henchman's words, her eyes fixed on the wheat paste that was about to drip from the ladle.

The old henchman glanced around and, seeing that no one was paying attention to the bandits, quickly took a wooden bowl from a willow basket on the haystack behind him, scooped half a spoonful of wheat paste into the pot, thought for a moment, and then scooped out another small half spoonful.

She quietly handed most of the bowl of wheat porridge to the girl with the ponytail, saying, "It's not lunchtime yet. If you're caught sneaking a bite, you'll get a beating. Eat it quickly before anyone sees you."

The man with the ponytail took the wooden bowl, tilted his head back, and poured the wheat paste into his mouth. The boiling paste was so hot that his mouth twitched. He quickly spat it back into the bowl, blew on it twice, and then immediately slurped it into his mouth again.

The half-bowl of wheat porridge was gone in no time. The girl with the ponytail held the empty bowl and looked at the old henchman, her meaning all too clear.

The old henchman waved his hands repeatedly, "No, no, we'll get caught if we steal too much. You know the second leader doesn't allow us to eat too much."

Now I finally understand why this group of pirates has never amounted to anything despite all these years.

The man with the ponytail didn't think much about it. He just smacked his lips, brought the wooden bowl to his mouth, and stuck out his tongue to lick the leftover food off the rim of the bowl, acting like a complete glutton.

"Ponytail, tell me, was it really that bastard young master from the Colin family who killed the big boss?" the old henchman asked amiably.

The woman with the ponytail had already licked the last bit of wheat paste from the wooden bowl with her tongue. She tossed the bowl aside, wiped her nose with her sleeve, and then realized that the clothes were full of fishy stench. She threw them away in disgust.

"That's right. It's said that ever since that guy returned to the island, he's been staying in the manor and hasn't come out because he was injured by your village chief, Gary. He claims to be recuperating from serious injuries."

"Think about it carefully now. They must have been plotting to ambush the chief for the past month. You weren't there, but that evil spirit acted too quickly. The chief didn't have time to dodge. Afterwards, they even forced us to strip the chief of his armor."

"The Moulin Rouge is open every day, but he never goes early or late, he just happens to go on the day the boss comes. It seems like he really planned this all along." The old henchman wasn't that sad about the boss's death, but that guy was, after all, his only support among the pirates, and the days ahead would be even harder.

The woman with the ponytail dipped her finger into the wheat paste that had dripped onto her trouser leg, put it in her mouth and sucked on it. "That's right, back then he said he would invite a few of us to the Moulin Rouge for drinks, and that we should make a scene to attract a customer."

"Who would have thought that he was just trying to lure out the Great Chief? If I had known they were planning to deal with the Great Chief, I would never have gone."

After finishing speaking, the woman with the ponytail glanced at the old henchman out of the corner of her eye while sucking, anxiously awaiting his reaction.

The old henchman didn't react at first, but continued stirring in the deep pot. After a long while, he finally realized what was happening and looked up in surprise, asking, "The Great Chief also suddenly decided to go to the Moulin Rouge yesterday. How did those people know where he was?"

The woman with the ponytail felt a surge of excitement inside, but her expression remained unchanged. She continued sucking her fingers with relish and mumbled, "Who knows? I only heard that guy say something about 'thanking the pale-faced guy for his help,' something completely nonsensical. Who knows who that was?"

After saying that, he put his white, sucking fingers inside his clothes, grabbed a big flea, and threw it into his mouth with a crunchy sound.

The old henchman, preoccupied with his future, paid no heed to the ponytail braid's incoherent words and continued stirring the wheat paste in the pot intermittently, leaving the ponytail braid feeling dejected once more.

However, the little henchman who had been silent all along, only adding firewood and grass to the campfire, kept his ears turned towards the ponytail.

He hesitated for a moment, then got up and walked to the wicker basket. He picked out two slightly cleaner wooden bowls and put them on the tray. He said to the old henchman, "Uncle old fisherman, the wheat porridge is almost ready. I'll take the two leaders' lunch over first, or I'll get beaten and scolded again if I'm late."

The old henchman agreed, scooped two bowls of wheat porridge from the pot, thought for a moment, then cut two small pieces of butter and put them in. He then selected two pieces of unbaked hard bread from the haystack and willow basket and placed them on the tray in the henchman's hand. "By the way, ask the second leader if it's time for everyone to eat."

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