Next, Ye Caiping began to teach them how to process cassava.

Grandma Ye, Madam Wei, and others sat on the sidelines watching, without a chance to try their hand at it, since that was all the knives they had at home.

The women sat on the ground, each with a wood-chopping stump and a sickle or machete in front of them.

The reason why kitchen knives were not used was because ironware was precious in that era, and each household only had one kitchen knife. They were afraid that if they didn't wash the cassava properly after cutting it, they would get poisoned.

Ye Caiping picked up a cassava: "Everyone, slide it diagonally downwards, and you can easily peel off the cassava skin that way."

"Next, we'll cut the cassava into thick slices. Yeah, this thick."

Ye Caiping cut out a few slices of cassava and showed them to everyone.

The aunties and girls all understood immediately: "It's very simple, it's just chopping vegetables."

Ye Caiping said, "Yes, it's just ordinary slicing. We cut the cassava and put it in a bamboo basket. Every 5 inches or so, we use a bamboo sieve to separate the layers, and then we lay another layer until it's full."

Because the amount of cassava was too large, Ye Caiping was worried that the cassava in the middle would not be washed by the water flow, so she thought of using a sieve to separate them.

The village head's wife had arranged for several skillful women to weave reed sieves suitable for bamboo baskets. These sieves were specially made to be 1 inch thick and woven rather sparsely to make them easier to pass through water.

Ye Caiping nimbly cut cassava with everyone else.

The village women watched her movements and couldn't help but marvel.

Everyone in the village knows that Ye Caiping is incredibly spoiled, never lifts a finger, and loves to cause trouble.

To my surprise, she was surprisingly efficient at her work.

"Oh my, I didn't expect Caiping to be able to do chores. Weren't you always so greedy and lazy?" Granny Zhao said while cutting cassava.

Grandma Ye's face darkened, and she was about to retort when Ye Caiping calmly spoke up:

"Yeah, I'm greedy and lazy, but what's it to you? Did I eat your rice?"