Zhao Qingyun acknowledged that he had received the message. After returning home, he took a shower before going to her room.

After telling her the truth, Xu Lai felt relieved and prepared to go to bed early. She would go to the factory early the next morning to help with cutting rice noodles.

She left home at seven in the morning. Sure enough, the factory had been busy all night and was now preparing to cut the sweet potato starch. The starch was laid out in blocks in a winnowing basket. Once the surface was slightly dry, it was cut into thin strips with a knife.

Grandpa also made a wide kind, similar to a rice noodle sheet. We had never made it at home before, but someone at the factory did it this year, so he asked the boss to make some of it as well.

The chopped rice noodles are placed in a basket, and you can take them home to dry yourself.

Xu Lai drove her own car so that her grandfather could put his things in it.

Who knew that the old man wanted to pick them up himself? "I'll pick them up myself. It'll be a problem if your car gets dirty. It was so expensive when I bought it. Don't give me these things to carry."

Xu Lai said helplessly, "Grandpa, in my eyes, no matter how much this vehicle costs, as long as you need it, it's for hauling things."

She carried the basket herself to the car, and when her grandfather saw that she was not strong enough, he helped her up.

Grandpa sat in the passenger seat, touching the seat, and said, "It looks good, this car is nice."

Xu Lai smiled and said, "It's good that it can haul things."

When she got home, she set up a clothesline in the yard. Their clothesline was made from bamboo that her grandfather had cut down from the mountains.

After the poles are set up, take out the powder, shake it to disperse it, and then let it dry on the poles.

There was still a lot of potato starch, enough to fill three drying poles, while the starch clumps were placed on winnowing baskets to dry.

There were still many sweet potatoes at home. When she was cooking today, she washed several and threw them into the wood-fired stove. They call this "roasting sweet potatoes" in their area.

After a meal was prepared, before the sweet potatoes were even roasted, Grandma lit the charcoal fire, buried them on top, and used the residual heat of the fire to roast them.

After they finished eating, the sweet potatoes were ready. She washed the dishes and then took the fire tongs to turn the sweet potatoes in the stove.

She searched several times but only found four. She clearly remembered that she had put five sweet potatoes in, even though one of them was a little small.

Seeing that she had been squatting there without coming out, Zhao Qingyun went over to check on her. When Xu Lai saw him, she said anxiously, "There's something wrong with this stove. I clearly put in five, but there are only four when I took them out."

Zhao Qingyun squatted down, shone a flashlight, took the fire tongs, and said, "Let me see."

He rummaged around for a while and pulled out a dark, unremarkable thing. Xu Lai poked it with a piece of firewood. "Are you sure this is a sweet potato and not charcoal?"

Zhao Qingyun laughed until tears streamed down her face. Xu Lai was very puzzled; it was clearly a sweet potato, yet it had turned into charcoal.

She used tongs and a stick to poke open the thing, and inside it was a little yellowish; it was indeed a sweet potato, just a burnt version.

Xu Lai put the other four good ones on a plate and took it out. Grandpa, Grandma, and Grandma Jiang each took one, and Zhao Qingyun also took one, peeled it open, and gave half to Xu Lai.

Grandma saw that there were only four and asked, "Xiao Lai, did you eat the last one in the kitchen?"

Xu Lai was both amused and exasperated. "It's burned. It's all blackened to charcoal."

Grandma paused for a moment, then burst into laughter, "Did you pick up a small one? I added a few more pieces of firewood when I was starting the fire, so the fire should be bigger now."

Grandpa handed her a sweet potato, saying, "Here, have some."

Xu Lai smiled and said, "No need, Grandpa, you eat it yourself. Zhao Qingyun and I will share one."

After we finished eating the roasted sweet potato, Grandma asked, "Can you check the weather on my phone for me? How's the weather lately?"

Grandpa interrupted, "I just checked the weather forecast. It'll be cloudy tomorrow, and it won't rain the day after tomorrow or the day after that."

Xu Lai knew that her grandfather would sit in front of the TV every evening around 6:50 to watch the weather forecast on CCTV.

As Xu Lai spoke, she glanced at the weather forecast: "Grandma, this weather forecast is inaccurate, but it shows that there won't be any rain for the next week."

Grandma had a plan in mind: "Tomorrow I'll steam some sweet potatoes, make some sweet potato slices, and also some cat poop."

Zhao Qingyun looked puzzled when she heard "cat poop," but Xu Lai explained with a smile, "That's what we call it here. It's when you wash sweet potatoes, don't peel them, steam them, and then cut them into small strips. Because they look a bit like cat poop after they're dried, that's the name."

Zhao Qingyun looked resistant after hearing this, "I'd rather eat sweet potato chips."

The next day, when Xu Lai returned from the street, her grandmother was already peeling the sweet potatoes in the yard. She put the vegetables in the kitchen, touched the sweet potato starch, and found that it was already slightly dry. It would need to be dried for another two or three days before it could be hung inside to air dry.

Xu Lai also joined the peeling team. Her family often makes sweet potato chips. Last year, the sweet potato chips her grandmother made were eaten up before the New Year was even over.

So Grandma plans to make more this year so that her children can take some back with them.

Peel the sweet potatoes. Small ones can be steamed directly, while larger ones can be chopped in half. Steam until the sweet potatoes are soft and tender, then put them in a bowl, add some sugar, and mash them into a paste that is slightly sticky.

Xu Lai moved out of the staircase, which was quite old; it had been in the house since she could remember.

The stairs were made of wood and were quite heavy, so she and her grandfather carried them out together, placed them on two benches, and then laid a layer of straw on top to make it easier to put the sweet potato chips on them.

Grandma took out a board with a support on the back. She covered it with a cloth, rolled out the sweet potato puree onto it, spread it flat, then placed the sweet potato side on the straw, and gently tore off the cloth.

This process was repeated until there was no more straw to put on the stairs.

Xu Lai also brought several winnowing baskets and laid out straw. Grandma used all the tools she had at home, but there was still enough sweet potato puree to fill a bowl, enough to roll out five or six sheets.

But there was no room left at home to make a bed, so Xu Lai had to give up and just ate it with a spoon.

After finishing the sweet potato chips, Grandma went to wash the sweet potatoes, put them in a pot to steam, and prepared to make cat poop.

Xu Lai thought this thing was tough on the teeth, taking a long time to chew. When she was working outside, her grandmother made this and she brought it to the company. Her colleagues chewed it for a long time and still couldn't swallow it.

She told her grandma about it, which made the old lady laugh out loud. Grandma couldn't stop laughing. "Oh my, oh my, I'm so happy! You should steam it again before giving it to everyone. I made sure it was dry for you, thinking you knew you had to steam it again."

Xu Lai exclaimed, "I didn't know! I just ate it, and my cheek hurt for days."

Grandma added fuel to the stove, saying, "I've shortened the drying time this time, so it'll be softer when we eat it."

The kitchen was filled with the sweet aroma of sweet potatoes. She chatted casually with her grandmother. Xu Lai felt that although this kind of life was ordinary, it was also very happy.