Chapter 34 Chicken Dung Vine

The Wei family now has plenty of food, so they send the women out to find some wild vegetables in order to avoid attracting attention. Even if they can't find any, they won't starve. But these wild vegetables are a lifeline for the other villagers.

After figuring things out, Sister-in-law Wei didn't mention digging for houttuynia cordata on the edge of the field anymore. Instead, she pulled Song Yushu to look for wild vegetables in other directions.

"You're so knowledgeable, you can even find houttuynia cordata that others don't know about. Come over and help me see if there are any wild vegetables I've missed!"

Song Yushu was used as a tool by Wei Dasao and Zhou Chengzhu, who brought her back to the foot of the mountain.

Nowadays, people who used to dig for wild vegetables at the foot of the mountain have stopped going there after they learned that they had found edible wild vegetables on the other side of the field.

"I don't recognize many wild vegetables, so don't get your hopes up too high," Song Yushu could only say this to prepare them mentally, so they wouldn't be too disappointed if they couldn't find any.

"It's alright, if you can't find it, just make another cold dish of houttuynia cordata when you get back," Sister-in-law Wei said, taking the opportunity to make a request.

Song Yushu never expected that Sister-in-law Wei had such a strong palate, and that she was now a loyal fan of houttuynia cordata.

Now only a few of them remained at the foot of the mountain. Song Yushu walked and stopped, and several small paths were trampled out at the foot of the mountain, with low and withered yellow weeds growing along the roadside.

Song Yushu observed that the plants that remained untouched were either poisonous or had an overly pungent taste.

She glanced at it without much hope, and sure enough, she recognized it.

Song Yushu pulled the chicken manure vine that was entangled in the bushes down, crushed the leaves and smelled them, and sure enough, he was right.

"Why are you picking at this? These vines and leaves smell awful. If it weren't for the fact that we can't even bring ourselves to eat them, they would have been picked clean long ago!" Sister-in-law Wei saw that they had picked at something they usually wouldn't even glance at, and quickly waved her hand to let Song Yushu throw it away.

"Sister-in-law, you just said I was very knowledgeable! Why don't you believe me this time?" Song Yushu tied the vines into a ball and put them in the basket.

"It's not that I don't believe you, sister-in-law! This stuff isn't like houttuynia cordata, which smells bad and tastes like chicken droppings, it's disgusting," Sister-in-law Wei quickly explained, afraid that Song Yushu would misunderstand.

"Don't worry, sister-in-law, do you remember where we can still find some? Let's pick more and take them back. I'll make you something delicious!" Song Yushu thought of the chicken manure vine sweet soup she had eaten in her previous life and felt a little nostalgic.

Seeing that she didn't seem to be joking, Sister-in-law Wei had no choice but to take her to the places they had seen before.

After finding several places and filling the basket, Sister-in-law Wei led her around for a while. Seeing that there were really no wild vegetables left out, she took Song Yushu back.

"How can your Wei family not even let this go? What's the difference between eating this and eating shit?" The woman who had just dug up a small half-basket of houttuynia cordata from the field saw that their baskets were full and was initially envious. But when she found out that it was something that the Wei family all disliked, she immediately mocked them with schadenfreude.

"There's nothing we can do. There are so many people in the Wei family. We're lucky if we have anything to eat. If you feel sorry for us, Auntie, why don't you share some houttuynia cordata with us?" Song Yushu stopped Wei's sister-in-law, trying to gain sympathy, and then glanced at the basket in the woman's hand several times.

"This little bit of wild vegetables isn't enough for you. What are you thinking?" Upon seeing this, the woman quickly covered the houttuynia cordata in her basket and hurriedly left.

"Why are you stopping me? This woman has a sharp tongue. If we don't yell back, they'll think we're easy to bully!" Sister-in-law Wei cursed a few times in frustration.

"Don't waste your energy on them. It's good for our Wei family to play the victim now, so we won't attract unwanted attention. Let's go back. Weren't you curious about what I'll make of this chicken manure vine?"

Song Yushu originally thought the original owner was shrewish, but he didn't expect that the women in the Wei family were all somewhat strong-willed. Wei's eldest sister-in-law was also someone who couldn't tolerate any nonsense, so he had no choice but to appease her.

The chicken-dung vine that Song Yushu brought back again was not well received by the Wei family. It's a pity that the chicken-dung vine still needs to be dried, otherwise she would definitely prove her judgment.

The weather is perfect for drying things now, so the chicken manure vines were cleaned and laid out to dry in the sun, and they were dried in just a few days.

Song Yushu couldn't wait to put it away, and then took out another portion and crushed it into powder.

"It takes so much effort, can it really taste good?" Sister-in-law Wei helped with the work with some skepticism.

"Just wait, today I'll let you taste its flavor!" Song Yushu was confident in this much.

Mixing the chicken manure vine, ground into green powder, with glutinous rice flour was a painful experience for Wei's mother. Fortunately, the Wei family could afford to produce that much grain, so she did not stop Song Yushu from doing so.

The dark green dough was shaped by Song Yushu's hands, and finally neatly cut into small strips and put into boiling water.

Before long, the small green strips that had been put into the pot were cooked and floated to the surface. Song Yushu scooped out a few bowls for them to try.

"The taste is alright, but it wasn't cooked with maltose," Song Yushu commented.

Since it's homemade powder, the texture isn't very smooth and has a slightly rough, grainy feel, but it has a pleasant, refreshing aroma when you eat it.

"It doesn't seem to smell bad at all, and it tastes really good," Sister-in-law Wei said without further resistance, finishing all the food in her bowl.

"I still have some maltose in my room, let's take it out and cook it later," said Mother Wei. After eating, she no longer felt bad about wasting her little bit of glutinous rice flour, and even asked Song Yushu to add maltose.

That very day, the Wei family enjoyed a sweet and fragrant chicken manure vine syrup, which unexpectedly swept away the gloom brought on by the drought.

"Mom! When our shop opens, add this to the menu and sell it for three coins a bowl!"

"Alright, I'll leave this to you. I'll pass the prescription on to you then!"

Zhou Chengzhu was always thinking about making money, which Song Yushu greatly admired. Given time, this greedy little girl might become richer than her.

During this period, Song Yushu only recognized houttuynia cordata and chicken manure vine, and did not find any other edible wild vegetables.

On the contrary, the news that the Wei family is now running out of food and that they are even resorting to eating chicken droppings is spreading everywhere.

Thanks to the play that Song Yushu put on with that woman, the Wei family is now no longer being watched, and the villagers who originally thought the Wei family had grain have given up the idea of ​​forming a group to borrow grain.

On the other side, the village head led the able-bodied men into the deep mountains to hunt. They went several times, but only managed to catch some wild rabbits and pheasants. The animals were so thin that they couldn't get any meat. They could only cut them into pieces and make a big pot of soup to share, so at least they could taste the meat.

Upon venturing into the mountains again, they unexpectedly encountered wild boars. The villagers, who had previously avoided wild boars like the plague, suddenly rushed forward with their eyes gleaming with greed, scaring the boars, which had intended to attack them, into running away.

The village head led his men to chase and surround the wild boar. Unexpectedly, just as they had killed the wild boar and were having the villagers take turns carrying it back, they discovered a mutilated corpse.

The stench of the corpse made the villagers back away, but the village head stepped forward to take a look and recognized the body as Pang Hu, whom the officials had been unable to find.