"Isn't that Chen Dalang's wife?"

"Oh, it's true. Why is she back again?"

"Could it be that she was kicked out by her parents' family?"

"Hey, where are her three daughters? Why can't I see them? Did she sell them?"

Hearing the villagers' groundless speculations, Zhang Hulan wanted to roll her eyes.

Yang Lizheng from Legong Village came running over and bowed to the yamen runner, saying, "I wonder what business has come to our village for, sir?"

The yamen runner said, "The county magistrate has seen the people's hardship and has applied for relief grain, but it will take some time for the relief grain to arrive. So, the county magistrate has arranged for someone to help you find food."

The yamen runner then pointed at Zhang Hulan and said, "You ask the villagers to follow her up the mountain. She will ask you to identify the things that are edible. You just hold on for a while and wait for the relief food to arrive."

When Yang Lizheng and the villagers heard what the yamen runner said, their eyes sparkled. Yang Lizheng said in surprise, "The county magistrate wants to give us relief food? That's great. Thank you, county magistrate! You really have a kind heart..."

But then they looked at Zhang Hulan, and Yang Lizheng asked in surprise: "Zhang?"

Zhang Hulan smiled and nodded at Yang Lizheng, "Yang Lizheng."

Yang Lizheng is a good person. He did not favor the Chen family that day and was fair in his actions.

The yamen runner had heard a rough outline of what had happened on the way, and knew that Zhang Hulan was also from Legong Village, but he was not interested in explaining it, so he asked, "Li Zheng Yang, is there enough water for your village?"

"It's not enough. The wells haven't produced much water in the past two days. Now every family only has half a bucket of life-saving water."

The yamen runner said, "You arrange for someone to go to Daping Village to fetch water. There is water there. The road is not too far. You can fetch two buckets of water in half a day, which is enough for the family's daily life."

Yang Lizheng asked again in surprise: "Is there still water in Daping Village? But will the people of Daping Village give it to us?"

"The county magistrate has already spoken to the head of Daping Village. You can go get it."

The yamen runner pointed at Zhang Hulan and said, "Daping Village originally had no water, and it was her idea to find water. She also helped the villagers of Daping Village find food to fill their stomachs, so the county magistrate asked her to help other villages find food. She won't stay here for long, as there are other villages that need her to teach. You arrange for the villagers in this village to learn from her."

The villagers began to whisper again.

"What? Zhang found water for Daping Village? And also found something edible?"

"Oh my god, why didn't I realize before that she is so capable."

"The Chen family has suffered a huge loss this time..."

"This Chen family is the same. They forced people to leave when there was nothing wrong. Otherwise, our village would be the first to find water and food."

Yang Lizheng said happily: "Okay, okay, I'll arrange it right away."

Yang Lizheng quickly asked someone to call all the villagers over, and then arranged for some people to go to Daping Village to fetch water, and some people to follow Zhang Hulan up the mountain to find something to eat.

Chen Dalang's family was naturally among them. When they saw Zhang Hulan, their eyes were filled with anger.

"You bitch, how dare you come back?" Chen Dalang yelled and rushed towards Zhang Hulan, wanting to teach her a lesson.

Zhang Hulan stood there without moving. Zhao Cheng and others stood in front of Zhang Hulan, ready to block Chen Dalang for Zhang Hulan.

As a result, they were of no use at all. Before Chen Dalang could get close, he was knocked to the ground by the yamen runner with his scabbard.

The yamen runner was too lazy to argue with Chen Dalang, so he said to Yang Lizheng: "Yang Lizheng, take good care of the people in your village and don't delay the important work. If anyone makes trouble, I will immediately take people to other places, and you will be left to fend for yourself."

Before Yang Lizheng could say anything, the surrounding villagers had already carried Chen Dalang away, including the rest of the Chen family.

No matter what Zhang Hulan was like before, she was here to help them find food. What if the Chen family got angry and drove Zhang Hulan away?

Mrs. Cao yelled, "What are you doing?"

"What are you going to do?"

"Let me go..."

Old Man Chen, Chen Erlang and Qiao were also dragged away by the villagers. Old Man Chen gave Zhang Hulan a complicated look. If he hadn't let Zhang Hulan go, maybe the whole village would owe them a favor now.

Yang Lizheng asked the villagers to go home and fetch buckets of water. Zhang Hulan said, "Yang Lizheng, you have a bullock cart at home. Find a few large wooden barrels and use the bullock cart to pull them faster. This way you can pull more."

Yang Lizheng asked, "Where can we find a big wooden barrel?"

"You can use a bathtub, just clean it."

"That's a good idea." Yang Lizheng's eyes lit up. "Three or four bathtubs can be placed on the oxcart. The total number of bathtubs is larger than that of ordinary water tanks. One pull will be enough for many people."

Yang Lizheng personally led people to Daping Village to fetch water, and his son Yang Jinshun was in charge of the village.

Without further ado, Zhang Hulan led the villagers up the mountain.

The original body had lived in Legong Village for more than ten years and was very familiar with the place. Zhang Hulan directly led the villagers to a mountain near the village.

I had seen kudzu roots on that mountain before, but there weren't as many kudzu roots on this mountain as on the mountain in Daping Village.

When they got to the mountains, Zhao Cheng and his friends saw the kudzu root and told the villagers of Legong Village, "This thing is called kudzu root. We dig it up and eat it in our village." Zhang Hulan didn't need to tell them.

The villagers of Legong Village did not have too many doubts. Since everyone had already eaten it, it must be non-toxic.

Leaving a few people to dig Pueraria roots, Zhang Hulan led the rest to continue searching in the mountains.

Then she saw a large-leafed plant with green and purple hues on a slope, and Zhang Hulan immediately ran up to identify it carefully.

With joy in her eyes, she waved to a villager and said, "Give me the hoe."

Zhao Cheng and Yang Jinshun both stepped forward, and Zhao Cheng asked, "Sister Hu Lan, what is this? Can you eat it?"

"Dig it out first to confirm. If I'm not mistaken, this thing should be called lotus root, and it's edible."

Zhao Cheng said: "I know lotus root, but this is the first time I've heard of dry lotus root."

Zhang Hulan said: "This dry lotus root is also called ginger lotus root, and it looks similar to ginger."

Yang Jinshun took the hoe from the villager and asked Zhang Hulan, "How do we dig this?"

Zhang Hulan pointed to the root of the lotus root and said, "Dig about one foot away from the root."

Yang Jinshun swung the hoe and dug up the lotus root in a few strokes.

The appearance of lotus root is similar to ginger, but it is larger than ginger.

Zhang Hulan broke off a piece and looked at it in her hand, then confirmed: "It is lotus root, no doubt about it."

There were probably dozens of them in this area, so Zhang Hulan said, "Go check if there are any more nearby."

Zhao Cheng asked: "How do you eat this?"

"You can eat it boiled or fried, but it's not as delicious as Pueraria root."

Zhao Cheng said: "It's enough to be edible. It's already this late, who cares whether it tastes good or not?"

In fact, both lotus root and kudzu root have another use, which is to make starch, then make vermicelli, or fry it into pancakes.