Chapter 19 Discovery of a Large Lotus Pond
The room was filled with fragrance.
The four boys ate with great relish, and Wu Hui Niang drank up the entire bowl of wild vegetable porridge.
Wang Damai was utterly astonished.
Her mother often said that the neighbors were living a miserable life, and that Da Shan's wife was always hungry. Is this what it means to be hungry?
Why did she feel that their family's life was even worse?
"Da Mai, hurry up and eat something," Cheng Wanwan said. "There's still work for you to do later."
Eating so much food so early in the morning must not be an easy task.
After a fierce psychological struggle, Wang Damai finally succumbed to the delicious food and drank the whole bowl of porridge.
"Here you go!" Zhao Sidan stuffed two roasted chestnuts into her hands. "Sister Da Mai used to secretly give me cornbread all the time, now I can finally give you something to eat too!"
Wang Damai herself didn't have much to eat, and all the good food at home had to be saved for her younger brother. But Sidan was sometimes so pitiful that he would stand under the big tree between their two houses, staring at her with his mouth watering so much that his clothes were soaked with drool. So she had no choice but to break off a small piece of cornbread and stuff it into his mouth.
Unexpectedly, her unintentional act was remembered by Si Dan.
After breakfast, another busy day began. Cheng Wanwan asked Da Mai to stay and help Wu Huiniang dig wild vegetables on the ridges of the fields. They could go back after they finished digging.
Wang Damai was completely puzzled.
That bag of grain was enough for her family to eat for two or three days, yet she was asked to dig for wild vegetables?
Si Dan can also dig for wild vegetables, so why specifically ask her for something?
She felt that Aunt Zhao was just trying to help her out.
Cheng Wanwan took her four sons up the mountain. They had earned half a tael of silver yesterday and were determined to make up for it today.
Before I even got up the mountain, I met an acquaintance at the foot of the mountain.
She was the original owner's sister-in-law, Zhao San's wife from the Zhao family, who was taking her daughter Chunhua up the mountain with a vegetable basket to dig for wild vegetables.
Zhao San's wife, Sun, greeted her with a smile: "I haven't seen you for many days, sister-in-law. You look fairer than before."
The corners of Cheng Wanwan's mouth twitched. Although there was no mirror, she could see her hands. The palms were rough and the backs of her hands were dark, the standard skin color of a peasant woman. When she earned enough money, she would definitely buy some whitening skin care products... She was also thirty-three in modern times, but people around her said she looked like she was in her early twenties.
In ancient times, she was thirty-three years old, yet she became an old woman who was about to have a grandson.
In ancient times, the average lifespan was too short, and some women in their thirties in the village were already called "old women"... Fortunately, she still had her father-in-law and mother-in-law, so for the time being, she wouldn't be called "Old Woman Zhao"...
Cheng Wanwan silently wiped away her tears of sorrow and said, "Let's hurry up the mountain while the sun is still low."
Her four sons had already walked ahead quickly. She hurried to catch up, and Madam Sun quickened her pace as well, casually remarking, "Sister-in-law looks a bit plumper. Eating meat really does nourish the body."
Upon hearing this, Cheng Wanwan almost got furious.
She's old and dark-skinned, fine, but how could she get so fat?! Dark-skinned, old, and fat—this is unacceptable!!
She immediately stopped in her tracks: "Have I really gained weight??"
Even if you eat meat every day, how can you tell if you've gained weight in a day or two? But Madam Sun deliberately steered the conversation away from the topic: "Sister-in-law, you've given the Cheng family a lot of money over the years. Now that you've fallen out with them, I wonder if they've returned that money?"
Cheng Wanwan immediately understood; this was a roundabout way of probing how much silver she had.
She recalled how the original owner of this body got along with her sisters-in-law. Before the family was divided, the three families lived together. Because the original owner was the eldest sister-in-law, her husband had a position in the army, and she had four sons, her status in the Zhao family was second to none. The other two sisters-in-law did not dare to offend her, and the original owner was always arrogant in front of her sisters-in-law.
Later, her husband died in battle. In order to embezzle the pension money, she completely broke with the Zhao family and had little contact with her sisters-in-law afterward.
“My eldest nephew needs to go to school, and all that money has been spent long ago. There’s no money left for me.” Cheng Wanwan changed the subject. “Chunhua’s mother, do you know how much grain the old lady still has?”
Zhao Chunhua immediately said, "Last night, Grandma brought ten catties of buckwheat flour to our room and hid it in..."
Sun pulled her daughter behind her. How could she tell her sister-in-law how much grain they had? What if her sister-in-law wanted to take it back?
The eldest sister-in-law gave birth to four sons for the Zhao family. The old lady's heart softens, and she will definitely agree to let the eldest sister-in-law move back to the old house.
"We don't have much food left at home, and the children are so hungry they're dizzy!"
Sun dared not speak to Cheng Wanwan again, fearing that her daughter's big mouth would reveal everything about the old house.
Cheng Wanwan was happy to finally have some peace and quiet.
The group walked deeper into the mountains. A few days ago, there weren't many people here, but today, the whole area had been dug up.
We had to continue deeper into the forest.
Cheng Wanwan wanted to continue searching for matsutake mushrooms and planned to go even further.
Zhao San's wife followed Cheng Wanwan, actually wanting to find out how many copper coins Cheng Wanwan had and why she could afford to eat meat.
She asked several times, but Cheng Wanwan ignored her.
Moreover, Cheng Wanwan went deeper and deeper into the maze, and no one knew where she was going.
Sun glanced at the sky; the sun was already up, and it was getting hotter and hotter. The wild grass and vegetables were all wilting. She had to dig a basket of wild vegetables to take back before noon, otherwise the old lady would get angry again.
There happened to be a large patch of fresh, untouched wild vegetables in front of her, so she quickly squatted down and got to work.
Zhao Chunhua also squatted down, but when she looked up, she saw Cheng Wanwan walking into the thorny thicket ahead, crouching down and looking for something.
She licked her lips. Had her aunt found something good that gave her the money to buy meat?
Her eyes darted around, and she quietly followed them.
Cheng Wanwan continued walking with her four sons. If there were mushrooms or wild vegetables by the roadside, she let the four boys dig for them first, while she continued walking alone. Even if she couldn't find matsutake mushrooms, it would be good to have some porcini mushrooms.
She stepped through the thorns, parted the broad leaves, and suddenly a wide-open valley appeared before her.
A valley naturally formed between the two mountains, and this valley was filled with withered lotus leaves, meaning that just a month or two ago, this was a lotus pond.
In this era, lotus flowers are a species native to the south and should not have been introduced to this central region, which is neither north nor south. Perhaps some birds or animals migrated from the south and brought lotus seeds, and then gradually, a large lotus pond was formed here, which I estimate to be at least three or four acres in size.
However, the people of Dahe Village have lived in the mountain valley for generations. Even if they saw lotus flowers, they would not recognize them, let alone know that the mud in which the lotus flowers grow is full of lotus roots.
Lotus root is a valuable food; in many dynasties, it was a tribute from southern vassal states to the imperial court. I wonder what its status was in this era...
Her gaze burned as she looked at the dried mud, and images of stir-fried lotus root slices, lotus root balls, sweet and sour lotus root cakes, and spicy and sour lotus root cubes flashed through her mind...
She swallowed hard, bent down to find a thick, long stick for support, and leaped into the dried-up lotus pond.
The land was dry and the mud was hard and difficult to dig. Cheng Wanwan used a lot of effort, and her palms were almost blistered, before she finally dug out a lotus root that was as long as her arm.
She forcefully broke the lotus root in two. The wild lotus root with seven holes was clean and white inside, and it even smelled fragrant.
Unfortunately, there hasn't been any rain for too long, and the lotus roots underground have only just started to grow. Without nutrients, they haven't grown any bigger, and the lotus roots are a bit thin and not starchy enough. The online store probably doesn't value lotus roots like this, as they didn't even offer a price for them.
Cheng Wanwan threw the dug-up lotus roots into her basket, stood up, and looked thoughtfully at the three or four acres of lotus fields in front of her.
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