the next day

Li Jianguo finished his cassava flour at the educated youth camp and was in disbelief: "Is this really made from that poisonous tree root?"

How could such delicious food kill people?

Wenwen pointed to the cassava starch slurry in two wooden barrels, which were borrowed from Li Jianguo.

Wenwen then remembered that the carpenter was missing two wooden barrels, and she would go and tell him about it later.

"After soaking, you need to grind it into a paste, and then wash out the flour. What you just ate is made with cassava flour." Wenwen said, "The flour needs to be dried after washing, just like noodles. If you want to eat it, just mix it with water."

"This is good, this is good." Li Jianguo rubbed his hands excitedly. This is food. There is food everywhere. How much can be dug out?

Li Jianguo couldn't sit still anymore, he wanted to go back and discuss it with his father.

Yu Xunting saw through it and said, "Captain, I'll take you back." He wanted to analyze the matter carefully with Li Jianguo.

Wenwen handed a lunch box to Li Jianguo: "Captain, let the old village chief try this cassava flour."

Li Jianguo nodded and held the lunch box like a treasure. He wanted to give his father a surprise.

Sure enough, the old village chief ate cassava flour and realized that the delicious food was the tree roots given to the little girl that day.

The old village chief's eyes were red: "It is the ancestors of Lijiawan who are protecting us and allowing Wen Zhiqing to come to my Lijiawan."

The old village chief stood up and was about to bow to Yu Xunting, but he stopped him: "Old man, what are you doing? Wenwen is just using the knowledge he learned from books to serve the people."

"I know you're an engaged couple, and you're both good kids with big intentions."

Yu Xunting helped the old village chief sit down: "Old man, you are too kind."

"Dad, what should we do with this cassava now?" Li Jianguo asked.

"Dig it up. Since we know this cassava is edible, we'll feel at ease if we dig it up and keep it at home," said the old village chief.

"But I think everyone still has some food. If we dig it all up, I'm afraid some people with surplus food will cause trouble."

Everyone has relatives. When everyone is hungry, people are calm. But if someone suddenly can have a full meal every day, some people will be jealous. It's the same among relatives.

The old village chief asked Yu Xunting, "Comrade Yu, what do you think we should do?"

Yu Xunting pondered for a moment and said, "I think the old village chief is right. Only when you keep the food at home can you own it. The captain's concerns should also be taken seriously. I have a suggestion: dig up all the cassava, but keep it in the village. First, distribute some to the villagers to have something fresh to eat during the New Year.

Then we will see if we can hold out until the spring wheat harvest. If we can, we will keep the cassava flour in the village and wait for the next harvest. At this time, the cassava on the mountain can also be harvested, if there is a good harvest.

Then they would sell some of the cassava flour, keep half of the money in the village, and distribute the other half to the villagers. This would also provide the village with more income, but the villagers kept the cassava flour a secret, and anyone who revealed it would not receive any cassava flour.

After Yu Xunting finished speaking, he looked at the Li father and son.

The old village chief thought it was a great idea: "Comrade Yu, this is a good idea. It's the best of both worlds." He said to Li Jianguo, "Go talk to the educated youth Xiaowen about it."

Li Jianguo nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go tell Xiao Wen, the educated youth, that the cowshed will be ready in a few days, and we'll go dig it out then."

After listening to Li Jianguo, Wenwen nodded and said, "That's a good idea. If we have a good harvest next year, I suggest we open a workshop to make cassava vermicelli, just like noodles."

When Li Jianguo heard this, he was overjoyed: "This is great." His father was right, it was really the blessing of the ancestors of Lijiawan.

Wenwen looked at him and said, "If you want to open a vermicelli workshop, you must have as much cassava flour as possible. I suggest that the team leader leave some cassava for seeds this year and try to find a suitable hill to plant it next year." If the harvest is good, they can plant it on a large scale.

Li Jianguo nodded: "Okay, I'll listen to you."

"When you dig, I'll teach you how to save seeds so you don't have to waste time planting next year."

"This cassava is really easy to make." He had never seen such an easy-to-make food.

Li Jianguo responded without hesitation. Even now he still has a feeling that it is unreal, as if food has fallen from the sky.

On this day, the bell in Lijiawan, which had not rung for a long time, rang. The villagers were all talking about it, wondering what big thing had happened in the village.

This is the threshing ground in the center of the village. If there is anything happening in the village, the villagers will gather here to discuss the matter.

Li Jianguo stood on a stool and watched the villagers whispering. He coughed to signal everyone to be quiet.

"I've gathered everyone here today because I have some great news: a new kind of food has been discovered on the mountain." He gestured to Wenwen, "This is the new educated youth, Xiaowen. Xiaowen has made this new food. Everyone, come and try it."

Wenwen came out holding an aluminum basin and placed it on the table. Then Wen Xiao and Xiao Huimin also came out holding a basin each with a spoon in it.

Li Jianguo pointed to several basins on the table and said, "This is the new tapioca flour for food. Line up, one person per household."

The villagers all found it curious and were able to try it first.

Everyone who tasted it had their eyes light up, and told their family members who didn’t get to eat it about how delicious it was.

After several basins of tapioca flour were empty, Li Jianguo asked, "How do you feel? Is the tapioca flour delicious?"

"It's delicious, as delicious as meat." People who have eaten it said loudly. This is their evaluation of this new food, which is as delicious as meat.

The villagers who didn’t get to eat it were even more eager, wondering when they would be able to eat this new food that was as good as meat.

Li Jianguo said loudly, "This cassava flour, which tastes as good as meat, is in the mountains. Today, each household will send a man up the mountain, and a woman to the river. Once the cassava is dug, wash it by the river. Dawen and Xiao will teach you how to do it.

Now everyone is going home to get their tools. Men, take your digging tools and backpacks, women, take your washing tools. Men are waiting at Beishankou. Disperse, hurry up."

Li Jianguo urged him to go home and get his tools. Wenwen and Yu Xunting also went with him to Beishankou to wait.

The task of teaching the women in the village how to wash and peel the fruits was given to Wen Xiao and Xiao Huimin.

A group of people went into the mountains to dig cassava. Everyone was excited along the way because they would soon see the food called cassava flour.

But when they saw the dug-out tree roots, they were dumbfounded. These were not the poisonous tree roots that the old village chief had always warned people about. This... this... everyone was stunned.

Li Jianguo said loudly: "This cassava is poisonous, but we didn't know that before. Now, Xiao Wen, the educated youth, knows how to remove the poison, so we can eat it.

I want to ask you, is the tapioca flour you just ate delicious? Did you get poisoned after eating it?

Everyone looked at each other and said, yes, they had just eaten it and it was so delicious; since we can remove the poison and make it taste as good as meat, that’s enough, let’s get started.

Everyone started digging cassava with great effort.