Chapter 76 Workshop Project: Making Potato Starch

Feng Guixian looked up and replied, "Coming."

He patted the mud off his hands and walked towards the house with Ruihua.

Lan Xiu also came out of the room and said, "I've brought water for you to wash your hands."

Feng Gui said "thank you," and Yu Yan smiled, glanced at Lan Xiu, leaned to the side, and took off the apron she was wearing.

After the two washed their hands and faces, Yu Yan warmly invited them to the dining table.

Feng Gui asked in surprise, "You even brought out such a big table?"

Yu Yan: "Yes, there are more people eating here now."

After acquiring metal tools, he asked the skilled orcs in his tribe to build him several tables.

For example, there's a "desk" in the bedroom, a "coffee table" in the living room, and two dining tables, one large and one small.

Normally, a small square dining table is enough for the three of them.

Today, Yu Yan cooked seven dishes and a soup, which filled the large round dining table.

Feng Gui looked at the dishes on the table and exclaimed, "How sumptuous!" He then sniffed the food and added, "It smells so good!"

Yu Yan gestured for them to sit down and first served each of them a bowl of radish and pork rib soup.

The soup was milky white, the pork ribs were tender, the radish was translucent, and a little bit of green perilla was sprinkled on top.

He explained, "I originally wanted to kill the head of the sheep beast, but there wasn't enough time today, so I cut off a piece of meat that I traded for from the grassland."

Ruihua said sincerely, "This is already very good."

Feng Gui nodded: "There's meat, fish, eggs, vegetables... We've never eaten this well during the Full Moon Festival before, haha."

Yu Yan said modestly, "I just used whatever I had at home. I didn't make any flower tea, so I wouldn't have trouble sleeping tonight." He held up his ceramic bowl, "Come on, let's clink glasses with some soup to celebrate Father's return!"

Feng Gui and Lan Xiu were used to Yu Yan's habit of "clinking glasses" with others to celebrate happy occasions, and they raised their bowls with smiles.

Ruihua, unaware of the situation, was a step behind.

Feng Gui smiled and said to him, "This is what celebration means."

Ruihua nodded and smiled.

The four bowls clinked together in mid-air, and Yu Yan happily exclaimed, "Cheers!"

Feng Gui: "Cheers. You and Lan Xiu worked hard making so many dishes."

Yu Yan: "Haha, I love cooking for everyone. Come on, try it and see how it tastes."

He picked up a potato and introduced it to Ruihua Fenggui: "This is a potato I got at the gathering. It's called a potato and it's especially delicious! Today I used it to cook meat, stew long potatoes, and stir-fry hot and sour potato shreds. Later, I'll make some other things for you to eat."

The two readily agreed, their curiosity piqued, and together they reached for the braised pork with potatoes.

The potatoes were a little hot from the pot, so they blew on them, put them in their mouths, and their eyes lit up immediately.

Feng Gui said, "The texture of this is similar to that of sweet potato, both are soft and not dry, but the taste is different from sweet potato, it is not sweet, so it is very suitable for cooking."

Ruihua swallowed what was in his mouth. "Has it been stewing for a long time? The potatoes even taste like meat. They smell so good."

Yu Yan smiled and said, "The meat has been stewing for quite a while. The potatoes were added later, otherwise they would have fallen apart if stewed for too long."

Ruihua: "I've also stewed meat with stems before, and it tasted far worse than yours. I feel it's not just a problem with the stems..."

Lanxiu said, "It's probably because he used an iron wok. He said that cooking in an iron wok produces a wok hei (wok aroma), which makes the food smell better."

Ruihua suddenly realized: "No wonder..."

He couldn't help but glance at the stove in the kitchen. Yu Yan had been busy inside, and they hadn't gone in to cause any trouble. Now he was particularly curious about what the iron pot looked like.

Precious metal ores can be used to make cookware... The supplies in his house are far more abundant than he ever imagined...

Afterwards, everyone tried other dishes made by Yu Yan.

The fish was cut into fillets, and the fish bones were used to make soup. The soup was then stewed with pickled cabbage, resulting in a sour, spicy, and savory dish.

The wild vegetables were blanched in water, then stir-fried with minced garlic and salt until just cooked through. They were still bright green, crisp, and delicious.

This time, Yu Yan didn't fry the bird eggs, but made a minced meat omelet, which everyone praised highly.

He also made cold preserved eggs, stir-fried fresh mushrooms, and pan-fried dried tofu... He even chopped several kinds of pickled vegetables.

Ruihua's cooking is nowhere near as good as Yuyan's.

Not to mention, he was completely won over by Yu Yan's culinary skills after eating so many delicious things at once.

Yu Yan said shyly, "Tomorrow we'll kill a sheep beast and a green-headed bird. Let Lan Xiu put the fishing cage in the sea and catch some shrimp... Oh, I've been busy attending the autumn harvest fair these past few days and haven't had time to make tofu and yogurt. I'll soak some beans tonight."

Ruihua was shocked by how much food was still in the house and said, "We won't be able to finish all this food tonight, will we?"

Yu Yan: "We'll have another meal tomorrow morning, that should be enough. Don't worry, it won't be a waste."

Ruihua never imagined that he would have such a good life one day.

After finishing his meal, he insisted on clearing the table and washing the dishes.

Yu Yan thought that he had just returned and told him to rest well, but Feng Gui said, "It's okay, we'll do it together. We'll boil some water, you and Lan Xiu go play."

The doting tone made Yu Yan feel embarrassed.

He's so grown up, but Feng Gui still treats him like a little kid.

Besides, it's getting late, where can we go for fun?

Finally, he and Lanxiu packed up their belongings, and Lanxiu said goodbye before returning to her residence.

It started to drizzle again outside. Yu Yan took a hot shower at home, changed into clean clothes, told Ruihua Fenggui, and went back to her room to lie comfortably in bed.

Ah, I have a house to live in, clothes to wear, and delicious food to eat... Life is just too perfect now.

There were rooms for guests, but Feng Gui didn't let Ruihua stay there. Instead, he led him to his own room.

Feng Gui remade the bed, took out a spare pillow, and placed it next to his own.

Although Ruihua had visited before, he still found these displays novel.

The oil lamp inside flickered, casting a warm glow on Feng Gui's busy figure.

Ruihua looked at him, her heart overflowing with tenderness, her eyes almost overflowing with affection.

"Okay, you lie down first, I'll turn off the light." Feng Gui patted the pillow one last time; it was filled with grain husks, which made a rustling sound when patted.

Ruihua obediently lay down on the bed, and saw Feng Gui blow out the oil lamp, walk over with light steps, lift the quilt, and lie flat beside him.

Neither of them moved or spoke; they simply looked up silently.

The light rain pattered on the terracotta roof, making a crisp sound. Inside, two soft breaths overlapped.

After a while, Feng Gui called softly, "Ruihua?"

Ruihua quickly responded: "Yes, I'm here."

Feng Gui turned to the side and slowly pressed her forehead against his strong arm. Smelling his real scent, Feng Gui's closed eyes welled up with tears again.

He nuzzled against Ruihua, opened his arms, and hugged his waist.

Ruihua opened her arms and hugged him tightly.

For the first time in years, Feng Gui said so calmly and peacefully, "Go to sleep."

...

Yu Yan slept well that night and felt refreshed when she left the bedroom.

Seeing that Feng Gui's bedroom door was closed, he was surprised to think: He actually got up later than me?

He smiled, tiptoed outside to fetch water to wash up.

The drizzle was still falling, and the world was covered in a white blanket of snow. The temperature was noticeably cooler than before.

The breeze carries the scent of autumn.

After washing her face, Lan Xiu came over.

"I've already set the fishing trap. I'm going to fetch water now, and while I'm at it, I'll lead the sheep to the water's edge to feed it."

"Okay, then I'll go feed the mallards and collect their eggs!"

There was a lot of work to do at home, and the two of them were constantly busy.

Fortunately, Feng Gui and Rui Hua soon got up and took over a lot of work.

Feng Gui made breakfast. After they finished eating, Rui Hua and Lan Xiu went to slaughter sheep and ducks, while Feng Gui carried a sickle and went out to cut grass.

Seeing that the rain wasn't heavy, Yu Yan simply wore a straw hat and went to check on the fields.

When I returned, the rain had almost stopped, and the sky gradually cleared, stretching as far as the eye could see, a clear, deep blue.

"Father, Lanxiu, you finished killing so quickly?" Yu Yan asked with a smile.

Lan Xiu lowered his head to pluck the duck's feathers, and upon hearing this, smiled and hummed in agreement.

Ruihua was chopping meat with an iron knife, and he was doing it shirtless, probably to avoid getting the new clothes Feng Gui had found for him dirty.

"Yu Yan, do you think it's okay to chop it into pieces this big?" he asked.

"Okay, that's good!"

After taking a stroll, Yu Yan went to the house's storage room and brought out three baskets of large potatoes that she had exchanged for yesterday.

The basket of potatoes was very heavy, and he pulled on it until his face turned red.

Upon seeing this, Lanxiu immediately put down what he was doing and helped him carry the remaining two baskets.

"Lanxiu, just transform into your beast form and help me move them to the water's edge. I need to wash the potatoes."

"OK."

Without saying a word, he transformed into a giant tiger, carrying three baskets of potatoes and taking Yu Yan to the water's edge.

Yu Yan and Lan Xiu washed the potatoes carefully with running water.

The skin of freshly dug potatoes is very thin; it breaks easily with a little rubbing.

The washed potatoes were carried back by Lanxiu.

Ruihua had finished tending to the sheep, put her shirt back on, and was sitting under the eaves, plucking feathers from the ducks.

Cang Feng and others were standing next to him.

When Yu Yan returned, everyone came over to lend a hand and helped him carry the potatoes into the yard.

"You've arrived?" Yu Yan asked with a smile.

Cangfeng nodded and said, "I've come to discuss something with you."

"What's wrong?" Yu Yan turned to Lan Xiu and said, "Could you please bring me the cutting board and knife from the kitchen?"

Lanxiu: "Okay. Shall we cut potatoes?"

"Yes, it needs to be cut into small pieces, and then ground with a stone mill in a bit."

After Lanxiu left, Cangfeng said to Yuyan, "At this autumn harvest fair, many tribes have placed orders with us for cloth, pottery, metal tools and glass."

"Pottery and glass can be fired in large quantities at once, and metal tools are also made with the help of several surrounding tribes. It's just that cloth is more troublesome. Our tribe already has a small population, and now we can't keep up with the demand."

Xin Yu: "Yes, we came to ask if we should ask other tribes to exchange less fabric with us?"

Xuefei: "Or should we collect more supplies?"

Cang Feng: "I don't think that will work. I heard from those clan leaders that no matter how many supplies they have, they want to exchange them."

Mo Ye: "Yu Yan, we want to hear what you think."

Previously, the peninsula tribe was very poor, and Yu Yan earned the tribe's first supply by selling cloth.

Later, as they acquired more and more good things, it became unrealistic to try and keep everything for themselves.

Yu Yan leaned her slender body against the windowsill and said, "My plan is to arrest when necessary and let go when appropriate."

"I have already taught them the methods of processing raw materials for weaving, spinning yarn, and dyeing. I don't actually plan to keep the weaving method to myself for too long."

“Weaving cloth is not like metallurgy or glassmaking, which require the use of white charcoal. Even if I don’t teach you, you are all so smart. Once you change the cloth and go back, you can figure it out by thinking about it.”

"With metal tools, it was only a matter of time before they made a loom."

He smiled and said, "In that case, let's take the initiative to teach."

He had a wish buried deep in his heart, which he didn't tell anyone.

That is, he hopes to do his part to ensure that the simple and honest people can live a life where they have enough to eat and wear.

He hopes this beautiful land will continue to improve.

Hearing his words, even Ruihua, who had only spent two days with Yu Yan, was not surprised.

This really seems like something he would do.

Cang Feng laughed and said, "Alright, then I'll listen to you."

The others nodded in agreement, looking at Yu Yan with unwavering support.

This time it was Yu Yan's turn to be surprised: "You just agreed like that? If we teach it to others, our tribe will earn less resources."

Cangfeng smiled and said, "This is your weaving method. Of course, you can teach it to whomever you want."

Xuefei: "We learned it six months earlier than people from other tribes."

Xin Yu raised his chin slightly and said confidently, "Our tribe has trained for half a year longer than others, which is not something others can easily catch up with."

Xuefei: "Yes, many of the patterns are only woven by people in our tribe. As more people learn, we can continue to hone our skills."

Yu Yan admires this open-mindedness and fighting spirit.

"Since you've all agreed, I'm relieved."

Cangfeng: "Hmm, how do you plan to teach them? Are you going to have each tribe send a few people to learn?"

Yu Yan blinked: "It's certain that people will come to learn, but our tribe also needs to develop, so we have to collect some 'tuition fees'."

"Tuition fees? What's that?"

After explaining, Yu Yan revealed her plan: "I plan to set up a weaving workshop in our tribe. Anyone who wants to learn can come and participate in the assessment."

"Is the assessment... a competition? And what is the workshop?"

Yu Yan: "Simply put, a workshop is a place where everyone works together. Those who pass the assessment will become apprentices in our workshop. They need to pay for materials to learn how to weave cloth, and they also need to work in the workshop during this time."

"With more people, our tribe will naturally produce more cloth, which will allow us to trade smoothly with other tribes."

"Our tribe will cover the apprentices' food and lodging, and we'll also give them some supplies as compensation. What do you think?"

Cangfeng exclaimed, "This way we have supplies and cloth to get, the apprentices learn how to weave, and they don't have to worry about food and lodging. When they return to their tribes, they can continue weaving cloth to exchange for supplies. It's good for both of us."

Xin Yu nodded repeatedly: "Yes, and setting up assessments can also filter out some unsuitable people."

Moye said, "I also think this workshop is great. As long as people want to come and learn, it can continue to operate."

What they didn't know was that once the workshop's good reputation spread, even if more and more people learned to weave, they would still choose the workshop with the more guaranteed quality.

The workshop model was so novel that Xuefei was itching to try it out.

He asked, "What if someone from our tribe wanted to work in the workshop?"

Yu Yan: "Then come on over. There's no tuition fee. You'll get paid for whatever work you do."

Xue Fei's red eyes lit up, and she said excitedly, "I want to go! Working with everyone sounds like a lot of fun."

Xin Yu: "After hearing what you said, I want to go too."

Yu Yan smiled and said, "Don't worry, you will all have a chance to go."

"Um?"

“Since there are apprentices, there must be teachers. Your weaving skills are so good, of course you should go to the workshop to teach apprentices. Teachers will be paid more than apprentices.”

Xue Fei and the others were thrilled at the thought of a group of apprentices chasing after them and calling them "teachers."

In all my years, I've never experienced anything like this before.

Xin Yu was incredibly excited and pressed, "When will the workshop be set up? I want to go right now."

Yu Yan laughed heartily at his words: "It'll be soon, the rainy season is almost over, and our tribe will build a batch of houses. Then we can choose a good place for the workshop."

Xue Fei said with a smile, "And we should make more looms too, otherwise what will the apprentices use?"

Yu Yan: "That's right, then the loom business is in your hands."

"no problem!"

Yu Yan discussed the amount of "tuition fee" with Cang Feng again. Xue Fei and the others, seeing that they had nothing better to do, went to cut potatoes with Lan Xiu and Rui Hua.

They all carried metal knives with them, which made them very efficient at their work.

Three large baskets of potatoes were quickly chopped.

When Yu Yan returned after her conversation, Xin Yu asked, "Yu Yan, what are you doing cutting so many potatoes? You didn't even peel them."

Yu Yan replied with a smile, "I'm going to make a food called starch, and I'll deliberately leave the skin on. That way, the starch will taste even better."

"Starch..." This was yet another thing they had never heard of.

While they were talking, Lanxiu had already brought over the newly built stone mill, and Ruihua fetched water to clean the stone mill inside and out.

He was captivated by the stone mill: "This stone mill is so small... the slurry it grinds must be very fine, right?"

Yu Yan: "Yes."

Ruihua: "Having metal tools is great."

The chopped potatoes were soaking in water. Yu Yan scooped them up with a spoon and added them to the stone mill. Lan Xiu then started pushing the stone mill.

The grayish-white potato juice flowed out of the stone trough and fell into the wooden bucket placed below.

Cangfeng said, "Yu Yan, you guys go ahead with your work. I'll go spread the word about the weaving workshop recruiting apprentices, and I also need to check on the charcoal kiln."

"Okay, go ahead."

Cangfeng left on his own, and Moye flew back to the tribe, retrieved two stone mills, and made a grinding paste.

Yu Yan poured the ground pulp and mashed potatoes into a clean cloth bag, with a large earthenware jar placed underneath.

He had Lanxiu fetch water and pour it into the cloth bag, while he kept rubbing the bag so that the starch water could drain out from the bottom and fall into the vat.

This step is only complete when the water wrung out of the cloth bag becomes clear; patience and physical strength are both indispensable.

Yu Yan and the others took turns doing the work, chatting in between, so it wasn't too tiring.

Around noon, Feng Gui hurriedly flew back.

Yu Yan looked up at his empty back and asked, "Father, didn't you go to cut grass?"

Feng Gui, breathless, said, "The people from the Qingqing tribe are carrying me so I can fly back to you faster."

Seeing his anxious expression, Ruihua's face tightened: "What happened?"

“The little brat from the Qingqing tribe has swallowed a nail! His father and adoptive father are frantic with worry. Yu Yan, I’m not going down there anymore, you come with me now.”