Chapter 20 This is Jade Bamboo Shoot
Behind the thorny thicket.
Zhao Chunhua looked incredulous.
She turned and ran down the mountain.
Sun had dug up half a basket of wild vegetables and was about to move to another spot when her eldest daughter came running over in a panic.
"What are you doing? Is there a ghost chasing you?"
Zhao Chunhua gasped, "Auntie, she... she dug up something good!"
Mrs. Sun hurriedly got up: "What good stuff?"
Zhao Chunhua didn't know what it was, but it was white and clean, and looked so tempting that she wanted to take a bite; she was sure it was edible.
She quickly took her mother and went over there.
Cheng Wanwan dug up two lotus roots and left, mainly because her hands couldn't withstand such treatment; she was afraid she would get blisters if she dug any further.
"Right, right here!"
Zhao Chunhua jumped into the lotus pond, pointed to the mud she had just dug up, picked up a small shovel and continued digging. Soon she dug up a long, thin thing.
Sun forcefully broke open the lotus root section, smelled it, and then carefully took a bite.
Her eyes lit up. This thing was pink and tasted sweeter than sweet potatoes. It seemed edible, but she didn't dare to eat it. She took a bite and then spat it out.
"Let's go back and ask your grandfather."
Sun tore off two large leaves to cover the dug soil. This was something her daughter had found, and it could only belong to the Zhao family.
Sun hurriedly led Zhao Chunhua down the mountain.
It was late morning, around lunchtime. Old Zhao had just returned from the fields and was sitting under the big locust tree, enjoying the cool air and smoking his pipe.
Old Mrs. Zhao was cooking wild vegetable porridge in the kitchen when she turned around and saw Sun Shi returning with half a basket of wild vegetables. Her face immediately darkened: "Two people went up the mountain and only dug up this little bit of wild vegetables. All they know is how to slack off, eating rice for nothing every day..."
"Grandma, Mom and I found something edible!" Zhao Chunhua quickly took out the lotus root from her basket. "Grandpa, Grandma, look what this is!"
Grandma Zhao glanced at it; the thing was covered in mud and looked black. After washing off the mud, the thing revealed its original pale yellow color. When she cut it open, the inside was surprisingly clean and white.
She handed the item to Old Man Zhao: "What is this?"
Old Zhao, with a pipe dangling from his mouth, frowned as he picked up the lotus root section. He smelled it, took a bite, and his cloudy eyes lit up: "This is... this is jade bamboo shoot!"
Years ago, Old Man Zhao traveled all over the country, and worked as an apprentice in the south, where there were jade bamboo shoots.
Jade shoots are a rare delicacy. Every year after they are dug up, they are rushed to the capital. Even the locals can only eat the jade shoots that have been dug up and are already rotten.
He was fortunate enough to have eaten it a few times. The stewed pork bones and bamboo shoots were a taste he would never forget, especially on a snowy day.
Unlike wild vegetables, bamboo shoots can fill one's stomach. In the south, when famine strikes, many people rely on them to fill their stomachs, much like sweet potatoes.
Old Zhao asked with burning eyes, "Chunhua, where did you dig this up?"
Zhao Chunhua gestured excitedly: "Right up in the mountains, very deep in the mountains, there's a whole lot of them, so many..."
Old Zhao made a quick decision: "Chunhua, call your father and second uncle back, and also call Dawang and Erwang back. Quickly fill your stomachs, and the whole family will go up the mountain."
Grandma Zhao understood; this jade bamboo shoot was something that could save lives.
She turned around and went into the house, dividing the cooked wild vegetable porridge into twelve bowls and bringing them out. The able-bodied men in the family each got a full bowl, the second and third sons' wives each got half a bowl, and the children each got a small half bowl. Even with such a small amount of food, it still used two pounds of buckwheat flour and three or four pounds of wild vegetables.
After the meal, Old Mrs. Zhao stayed at home to guard the house, actually to guard the grain hidden inside, while everyone else went up the mountain.
These days, when it doesn't rain, there's not much work to do in the fields. Many men from different families go up the mountain to chop firewood and dig for wild vegetables, so it's not unusual for so many members of the Zhao family to go up the mountain together.
We walked and walked deeper into the mountains, and after passing through a broad-leaved forest and a thicket of thorns, we came to see a valley.
The dried-up pond was full of withered broad leaves.
“This is a lotus leaf!” Old Zhao said confidently. “This thing will bloom and grow lotus seeds. Lotus seeds are more precious than jade bamboo shoots. Only high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital can afford to eat them.”
Zhao Dawang said admiringly, "Grandpa, you know so much."
“People will naturally know more as they travel more places.” Old Zhao stroked his beard. “There’s a saying that goes, ‘Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles.’ That’s why your grandfather doesn’t let you study.”
Zhao Er's lips twitched: "Dad, are you sure it's not because our family can't afford to send you to school?"
Zhao Dawang and Zhao Erwang chuckled.
Old Zhao glared at them fiercely, then jumped into the lotus pond, leaning on a large tree beside him. He walked from one side of the pond to the other, seemingly just walking, but actually measuring how many acres the pond actually was.
After walking around the pond, Old Zhao had a better idea of what to expect. Because of insufficient rainfall, the yield of the four and a half mu of pond would definitely be low, with each mu producing about seven or eight hundred jin, which would amount to approximately two or three thousand jin.
The soft, wet silt in the pond turned into hard mud, making it no easy task to dig for jade shoots. Even with a family of more than ten people digging, it would take at least half a year.
Old Zhao stood on the shore for a long time before slowly saying, "Dawang, go and call the village head."
"Dad, you don't mean to get the whole village to come digging for jade shoots, do you?" Zhao San frowned and said, "We found them first, so they belong to our Zhao family. Why should we tell other people!"
“Such a large pond, containing several thousand kilograms of grain, is more than enough for our family of over ten people to eat or dig up,” Old Man Zhao said disapprovingly. “Besides, if Chunhua can find this place, others can too. Going down the mountain to the west, you’ll reach Guihua Village. If the people of Guihua Village discover this pond, then Dahe Village will be out of the picture.”
Zhao San looked unconvinced, and Sun Shi didn't say anything, but her pursed lips betrayed her inner emotions.
Old Zhao sighed, "Alright, alright, let's keep digging for now, I'll bring the village head over tomorrow morning."
Mrs. Sun breathed a sigh of relief.
She also wanted to hide some to send to her family home, which was in Guihua Village. If she could give them a heads-up beforehand, they wouldn't go hungry.
The Zhao family of eleven began digging for jade shoots.
Cheng Wanwan led her four children down the mountain.
It was noon when she handed two lotus roots to Wu Huiniang. After washing them, she cut off a small piece and walked towards the village head's house with the small piece of lotus root.
As you walk along, all you see are parched fields, and strong, middle-aged farmers sit helplessly at the edge of the fields, sighing incessantly.
Cheng Wanwan also sighed, but drought is a natural disaster that cannot be reversed by human effort.
She could only try to ignore these things and move forward.
"Grandma Mountain, what brings you here?"
The village head's wife was sewing in the yard. When she saw Cheng Wanwan coming, her eyelids twitched.
Last year, Zhao Chengshi came over to ask the village head to preside over the division of the family property, which caused quite a stir. Now that she's here, who knows what kind of trouble she'll cause this time.
Cheng Wanwan walked in with a smile: "Auntie, is Uncle Village Head here?"
“He went to town.” The village head’s wife sighed. “It hasn’t rained for a month or two, and the town’s magistrate’s hair has turned white with worry. Today he called all the village heads together for a meeting, mainly to ask about the fields. Your village head uncle has been so worried that he hasn’t slept well for more than half a month.”
The implication is that the village head is very busy and has a lot of worries, so don't bring up Zhao Chengshi's little troubles.
"Then I'll come back later."
Cheng Wanwan didn't say what it was about, and then turned and left.
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