Chapter 79 Buying Sweet Potatoes

"Gu boy, Li girl, you haven't been here for some time. What good medicinal herbs do you have today?" Shopkeeper Liu came over to greet them enthusiastically when he saw Gu Yan and Li Wanqing come in.

In the past few months, the two of them would come here every ten days or half a month to sell medicinal herbs.

This time, because of the autumn harvest, they haven't come for more than a month, so Manager Liu asked this question.

"We don't have any medicinal herbs this time. We just came to visit Uncle Liu and bring him some new rice and flour.

These are all produced on the farm. I had them ground yesterday. I'll send some over for Uncle Liu to try." Gu Yan said.

Because of their frequent visits, the relationship between Gu Yan, Li Wanqing and Manager Liu is no longer just a business relationship. It is more like a friendship regardless of age.

So even if they didn't sell medicinal herbs, they would come to the pharmacy to see Manager Liu and bring this year's new rice and flour.

Hearing that two people had come to see him specially, Manager Liu was indeed very happy.

"It's nice that you still care about me. Come on, go in and have some tea." Manager Liu said as he had the rice and flour moved to the kitchen.

"Sit down and try this Longjing tea before the rain. It's a good tea I just got." Shopkeeper Liu poured tea for them with a smile.

"Thank you, Uncle Liu. Actually, we don't know how to make this good tea. Giving it to them would be like a cow chewing a peony." Li Wanqing said after taking a sip of tea.

"You mischievous girl, isn't tea meant to quench thirst? Why are you talking to me about a cow chewing a peony?" Shopkeeper Liu pointed at Li Wanqing and said.

"Hehehe, Uncle Liu, I was just kidding. Today I'd like to take advantage of your kindness and try this good tea." Li Wanqing smiled and took two more sips.

"You... have finished the autumn harvest? How is the harvest this year?" Manager Liu asked Gu Yan.

"The harvest is over. This year's harvest is very good. We can yield about 20% more per acre than last year." Gu Yan replied.

"Now that we are done with our work, we should go back to collect herbs, right?" Shopkeeper Liu was thinking about the herbs.

The medicinal herbs sent by Gu Yan and Li Wanqing are old and have good medicinal effects. Manager Liu likes to use the medicinal herbs sent by Gu Yan and others the most.

"Well, I'll go back tomorrow." Gu Yan replied.

"Go back and look for any Ganoderma lucidum and Kidney Essence Grass. We are in urgent need of these two things right now," said Shopkeeper Liu.

"Okay, I'll pay more attention to these two things when I get back. There should still be a lot of Kidney Essence Grass, but I'll have to rely on luck as for Ganoderma Lucidum." Gu Yan knew that what Shopkeeper Liu meant was that the prices of these two herbs were good now.

The two stayed with Manager Liu for a while, and then a guest came to Manager Liu's place, so they took the opportunity to say goodbye.

After leaving the pharmacy, the two of them started walking on the street.

The street was very busy, with all kinds of things for sale. If Li Wanqing saw something she was interested in, she would buy some.

However, what Li Wanqing bought the most was food.

The fried dough sticks she bought last time were almost finished, so this time Li Wanqing made a big purchase of 200 fried dough sticks and 100 bowls of tofu pudding.

Li Wanqing likes to eat fried dough sticks. In ancient times, there was no gutter oil, so the oil used was particularly delicious.

But she was too lazy to fry it herself because she thought it was troublesome, so the ones she bought tasted just as good.

In addition to tofu pudding and fried dough sticks, Li Wanqing also bought some fried sugar cakes, sticky fire shovels, and white sugar cakes.

However, she didn't buy steamed buns, steamed buns, and wontons. Li Wanqing felt that the ones sold outside were not as delicious as those she made herself.

"There's someone selling sweet potatoes up ahead. Would you like to buy some?" Gu Yan held Li Wanqing's hand, and he knew that Li Wanqing was buying these to eat in the winter.

"Sweet potatoes? Where are they?" Li Wanqing had been here for so long, but had never seen sweet potatoes before.

"Let's go to the front. What? Do you like sweet potatoes?" Gu Yan pulled her and went to where the sweet potatoes were sold.

"I wouldn't say I like it, but roasted sweet potatoes are delicious. In the winter, eating roasted sweet potatoes around the fire is a delight just thinking about it."

Li Wanqing imagined that it was snowing heavily outside, and she and Gu Yan were sitting by the stove, eating roasted sweet potatoes, with chestnuts and walnuts on the stove.

This was the day Li Wanqing had always dreamed of. Now that it was about to come true, she was overjoyed.

Gu Yan didn’t understand what was so delicious about roasted sweet potatoes, but since his wife liked them, he was willing to indulge her.

The sweet potato seller was a man in his fifties, with two baskets of sweet potatoes in front of him. These sweet potatoes looked freshly dug, with the mud still wet on them.

The old man saw them coming and immediately put down his pipe and stood up. "Do you want some sweet potatoes? These are all freshly dug from the ground."

The old man jumped on each one, without a single worm hole."

Li Wanqing saw that the sweet potatoes in the basket had indeed been selected and were all about the same size.

"Father-in-law, how much do you sell these sweet potatoes for?" Li Wanqing asked.

"One copper coin is worth two pounds. How much do you want, sir?" the father-in-law asked eagerly.

"I want both baskets. Father-in-law, can you weigh them for me and tell me how much are in them?" Li Wanqing said.

"Okay, I'll weigh it right away." The old man didn't expect that the young lady in front of him would actually want it. He agreed and quickly weighed it.

"My dear, there are seventy-three pounds of sweet potatoes in total, let's just say seventy pounds. The total is thirty-five cents." It was obvious that the old man was a frequent street vendor, and he was very good at calculating.

"We don't have a basket, and we have no place to put the sweet potatoes. Can I give you forty cents as money to buy a basket?" Li Wanqing said.

"Sure, sure." The old man had made the baskets himself and didn't spend any money at all. Now he could exchange two old baskets for five cents, and the old man was very happy.

Li Wanqing counted out forty copper coins and gave them to the old man, then asked Gu Yan to move both baskets of sweet potatoes onto the carriage.

The old man happily took the copper coins and went home.

Li Wanqing and Gu Yan continued to move forward.

"Wife, are these sweet potatoes enough? If not, let's go to the vegetable market." Gu Yan said when he saw that Li Wanqing liked sweet potatoes very much.

These dozens of kilograms are indeed not enough. Li Wanqing plans to buy at least a few hundred kilograms.

"These are indeed not enough, so let's go to the vegetable market to have a look." Li Wanqing said.

Gu Yan then took her to the vegetable market. There were many stalls selling sweet potatoes in the market, and Li Wanqing bought out all the sweet potatoes from three stalls.

I stopped buying only after I had collected 500 kilograms of sweet potatoes.

In addition to sweet potatoes, Li Wanqing also bought 100 kilograms of peanuts. They didn't grow peanuts in their fields, so they had to buy them if they wanted to eat them.

Li Wanqing also bought 20 kilograms of sesame seeds. She had to go to several stalls to get this much.

Hot pot is the best thing to eat in winter, and the soul of hot pot is sesame paste.

Li Wanqing didn't think about it before she saw it, but when she saw it, her mouth started to spit.

It’s decided. I’ll eat hot pot when I go back tomorrow.

In addition to these, Li Wanqing also bought a lot of apples, pears and persimmons.

How can we live without fruits in winter? We must have vegetables, fruits and meat.

In fact, these are not enough, but Li Wanqing plans to go to the mountains to look for it, maybe she can find it.