Chapter 62: There Will Always Be a Way When You Get to the Mountain

Passing by their own land, the three Su Bucheng brothers were hoeing the land with great effort.

Over the past few days, they have reclaimed five or six acres of land. They didn't dig deep, but just dug the soil with a hoe and let it dry in the sun.

Su Ying took a look and found that only one-fifth had been dug. At this rate, it would take at least another half month.

The composting progress was much faster, and a lot of it was dried and gathered into piles on the ground outside the yard.

However, the land has not been fully cultivated. Even if humus is spread to increase the fertilizer efficiency, the roots of the wheat planted here will not be able to penetrate deeply, so the crops that grow will not be very good and the yield will not be high.

"Aye! Let's go!"

"Well!" Su Bucheng threw the hoe to the edge of the field and said to his two younger brothers, "I'm going to the village."

"No need to bother, just go and do it, brother!" The second and third Su brothers continued working, and a large area of ​​their short jackets were already wet.

"Mr. Su, Mrs. Su!" The father and daughter went to the village chief's house, and the villagers greeted them warmly on the way.

"Good morning!" The father and daughter greeted each other all the way to the village chief's house.

"Mr. Su and his wife are here!" The village elders looked at the father and daughter, and the more they looked, the more familiar they felt.

I was just wondering in my heart, what was the girl from the Su family doing here?

"Dear village elders!" Su Bucheng raised his hand and bowed.

Everyone took their seats one after another with courtesy.

"Mr. Su, this is your family's land deed!" Old Zheng took out the deed from his arms.

In order to complete the formalities, Old Zheng got up early that day and took a bullock cart from Heifeng Township to the county government office. He paid a lot of money for the round trip fare and meals himself.

"Thank you, Mr. Zheng! How much did it cost for the trip? I will repay you in the future." Su Bucheng took the new land deed, and the Su family officially settled in Huanggou Village.

"It's okay, it's okay. Mr. Su has helped the village so much, this little money is nothing to worry about!" Old Zheng was too embarrassed to accept it.

"Mr. Zheng, I will keep this in mind and will repay you in the future!" Su Bucheng bowed solemnly to Old Zheng.

Su Bucheng knew roughly how much it cost, and when he had money, he would give them more or less.

The village elders are highly respected people in the village. They are publicly appointed to maintain the order and interests of the villagers and help run errands.

But it was not a free obligation, and he did not receive a single cent of salary from the village or county government.

We can't ask the village elders to spend money and effort to help for free. We are all poor people and this is not how we live.

"You're welcome!" Old Zheng said with a smile.

Frank people speak frankly, and it is pleasant to hear such words. Although it is tiring to make the trip, it is worth it to hear such words.

"Okay, let's get back to business, Mr. Su. The village elders are gathered here today, so let's talk about business!" said Old Man Yang.

"Yes, yes!" The village elders looked at Su Bucheng eagerly. "Mr. Su, you bought so many large water vats yesterday. The village chief said they would be of great use. I wonder what they are for?"

"Well, this was my daughter's idea." Su Bucheng replied.

"A girl's idea?" The village elders looked at Su Ying with inquiring eyes. What kind of knowledge could a girl in the boudoir have?

This joke is a bit funny. Is Old Yang getting senile? Last night, when I heard what Old Yang said, I thought it was a brilliant trick from Mr. Su.

"Yes, everyone, please listen first and discuss it together. If you think it's feasible, we can all work together. If you think it's not appropriate, then my family will do it alone."

Su Bucheng smiled and said, "The conditions here are difficult. I am grateful for your care. Now that I have a new way to get food, I want to give back to the village."

"Girl, please tell me!" The village elders didn't want to offend Su Bucheng, so they listened patiently.

"There are a lot of wild bracken and kudzu around our village. The bracken roots and kudzu roots contain a lot of starch. We can squeeze out the starch, filter it, and dry it in the sun to make bracken root and kudzu root vermicelli."

Su Ying saw the disbelief in the eyes of the village elders, but did not expose it.

"Can fern root vermicelli and kudzu root vermicelli really be made?" The village elders stood up at once, looking at each other, some in shock and some in bewilderment.

The shock was that this news was too incredible. If it was true, then they would never have to starve again!

What makes them confused is why they have never heard of the wonderful uses of wild bracken and kudzu?

"Of course!" Su Ying affirmed, "It's just that the fern root has a lower powder yield, while the kudzu root has a higher powder yield."

"As long as it's edible, it doesn't matter if there's less. At most, we'll have to spend more effort to dig more! But what is kudzu? Isn't it kudzu?" The village elders were confused.

"There are two types of kudzu, one is called Chai Kudzu and the other is called Powder Kudzu..." Su Ying gave a detailed introduction to the classification of kudzu and the production of fern root powder and kudzu powder.

"So, we only need to dig up the kudzu with forked leaves?" The village elders understood after hearing the popular science explanation.

"Yes!" Su Ying nodded.

"Let's go now!" The village elders were so excited that they didn't want to wait a moment and wanted to see what fern root powder and kudzu powder looked like.

"Don't worry, don't worry!" Su Ying stopped him. "If you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your tools. Let's first count the tools in the village and integrate our resources to work together."

"What do you want? Just tell me, young lady. We can definitely get them all!" The village elders were full of confidence.

"Now that we have a large water tank, we also need a large wooden mallet, a stone mortar, a filter rack, filter cloth, and a winnowing basket for drying the fern root powder and kudzu root powder. Later, we'll need a large pot to make vermicelli noodles."

"Girl, if you can put together a wooden hammer, a stone mortar, a strainer, a filter cloth, and a winnowing basket, you can make a big pot. What is a big pot?" asked Old Man Yang.

We only use clay pots and rice steamers to cook at home. What material are the big pots made of and how big should they be?

"Big pot? It's a big iron pot! The village chief comes from a wealthy family, so he must have seen a big iron pot before." Su Ying gestured at the size and appearance of the big iron pot.

Since the emergence of ironware, by the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, iron cooking utensils had become popular among the aristocratic circles, and large iron pots had appeared.

Old man Yang shook his head. A gentleman should stay away from the kitchen. As an important official, why would he care about such trivial matters in the kitchen?

The other village elders had the same expression.

"Well, let's put that aside for now. Let's first dry out the fern root powder and kudzu powder, and then consider the rest." Su Ying took it one step at a time. "It seems there's no iron shop in Black Wind Township?"

"No, it's only available in the county town! If you want to make a big iron pot, you have to go to the county town." Old man Yang was a little worried.

A big iron pot is very valuable, and all the money I earned yesterday was used up.

"There's always a way out when you reach the mountain. Let's make the fern root powder and kudzu powder first, and then we'll figure out the rest later!" Su Ying said, "There's something more important!"

"Oh, what else?" The village elders suppressed their excitement.

"Father, go ahead!" Su Ying threw the words to her father to enhance his glorious image in the village.

"Well, I heard that there are many children in the village who have nowhere to go to school, and some of Su's nephews have a few books that can be used.

If anyone is willing, my nephews and nephews can be taught for free. Are you thinking of setting up a village school?"

"Mr. Su, are you serious? Is there such a good thing?" The village elders couldn't believe it.

"That's serious!" Su Bucheng nodded. "School will start after we finish planting winter wheat."