Chapter 21 A Tragic and Inhuman Act
The sky gradually darkened.
A delicious aroma wafted from the courtyard.
A dish of lotus root balls was served. Two lotus roots were chopped, mixed with flour, shaped into balls, and fried until cooked. There were two large bowls of them.
Zhao Sidan lay on the dining table, drooling uncontrollably.
Cheng Wanwan stuffed a meatball into his mouth and said irritably, "You've been eating well these past few days, why are you still drooling all the time?"
"Mom's cooking is so delicious!"
Zhao Sidan swallowed the meatball in one gulp; it was crisp, refreshing, and sweet, and he couldn't get enough of it.
Cheng Wanwan picked up fifteen meatballs, piled them into a full bowl, and handed it over: "Take this to your grandma."
Zhao Sidan grabbed the bowl and ran out.
The old lady was alone in the Zhao family at the moment. The wild vegetable porridge was already cooked, but no one else had returned. The old lady was a little worried, afraid that something had happened.
After all, it's deep in the mountains and forests. If some ferocious beast were to suddenly appear, the whole family would be doomed.
As they waited, they smelled an enticing aroma and saw Zhao Sidan skipping and hopping into the yard: "Grandma, my mother sent this over!"
A large bowl full of meatballs, fried to a golden brown and crispy perfection, clearly made with a lot of oil.
"Why is your mother wasting things again!" Old Mrs. Zhao said, exasperated. "What is this?"
“Mom says they’re fried meatballs,” Zhao Sidan said with a grin. “Grandma, try a bite, they’re so delicious, you’ll want to swallow your tongue.”
Grandma Zhao twitched her lips. With so much oil and what seems like sugar, even a lump of mud would taste delicious.
However, the eldest son's wife repeatedly brought food when there was a food shortage, but never mentioned moving back. What kind of bad idea was she planning?
The old lady stopped Zhao Sidan, who was about to leave, and asked, "Has your mother mentioned anything to you these past few days?"
“Yes!” Zhao Sidan said, counting on his fingers. “Mom said she would make sure we had enough to eat, and that she wanted to live in a new house, and that we could eat meat every day…”
The old lady's eyelids twitched; she really wanted to move back in!
They actually want to eat meat every day? What kind of pipe dream is that?
When we lived together before, it was always chaotic. If the eldest son's wife doesn't change her bad habits, she will never allow the eldest son's family to move back!
Zhao Sidan ran back quickly to eat dinner.
Wu Huiniang was telling Cheng Wanwan about Wang Damai from next door: "He's very hardworking. He helped dig up a lot of wild vegetables, chopped all the firewood for the house, and even carried two buckets of water for the family..."
Cheng Wanwan didn't know what to say.
In ancient history, whenever famine occurred, there were instances of children being sold, and there were even cases of people exchanging children to eat.
She didn't want such a horrific tragedy to happen to anyone around her.
Cheng Wanwan quickly finished her dinner with her head down, and then took the lotus root balls to the village head's house again.
It was already dark by then. Nighttime is when wild beasts come out, and villagers usually don't go up the mountain at night. As soon as the sun set, Old Man Zhao brought his children and grandchildren down. Fortunately, there weren't many people wandering around outside, and the group returned to Old Man Zhao's courtyard without any danger.
A group of people were so tired that they slumped in their chairs, their palms calloused from the hard work.
Grandma Zhao quickly prepared extra food for the children, steaming an extra cornbread for each of them. After they had eaten and drunk their fill, the group finally came back to life.
Old Zhao took a puff of his pipe, stood up, and said, "I'm going to find the village head."
Grandma Zhao scolded irritably, "You're all exhausted, can't you go tomorrow?"
Sun's eyes flickered: "Yes, Father, let's rest for the night and go to the village head tomorrow morning."
Old Zhao shook his head: "I can't rest easy about this, I have to make things clear."
He put on straw sandals, pushed open the courtyard gate, and walked towards the village head's house under the sparse starlight.
As soon as I reached the door, I heard familiar voices coming from the courtyard.
"This morning I went up the mountain and saw a dried-up pond. I just dug with a shovel and found this thing. It was white and clean, and I didn't know what it was, but it looked edible, so I dug some up and took it home to cook," Cheng Wanwan said methodically. "I chopped it up, coated it with buckwheat flour, and fried it in a pan. It smelled amazing. You can also just stew it in a pot. It tastes similar to sweet potatoes, so I was wondering if this thing could fill your stomach like sweet potatoes?"
The village head looked at her with surprise and doubt: "Auntie Dashan, where did this thing come from?"
“There are many on the mountain, about four or five acres,” Cheng Wanwan said. “They’re all in the thick soil, I estimate there are over a thousand pounds.”
The village head's wife's eyes lit up: "Over a thousand catties! That means each household would have almost a hundred catties. Although it's not as filling as millet, it would at least keep us from going hungry for half a month..."
The village head tried a lotus root ball. It was very oily and even more fragrant and delicious than meat. If there were really thousands of pounds of this, what would Dahe Village have to worry about?
His eyes still held some doubt: "Our Dahe Village has this thing, how come no one has ever seen it before?"
"This is a jade bamboo shoot!"
Old Zhao stepped inside.
The village head and Old Man Zhao were cousins. Old Man Zhao was a few years older and said with certainty, "I saw it decades ago. There are many jade bamboo shoots in the south that can fill your stomach. But I heard that they were specially sent to the capital. I don't know why our Dahe Village has them too."
Cheng Wanwan was extremely surprised, never expecting that Old Man Zhao had seen this thing before.
In this era, lotus root was called "jade shoot," which sounds quite beautiful.
Lotus root is rich in starch, which can indeed replace staple food in a short time, but it is not as filling as staple food.
The village head looked impatient and quickly said, "I'll go change into a pair of straw sandals and then go up the mountain to take a look."
The village head's wife disagreed, saying, "What time is it? There are wolves on the mountain. Can't we go tomorrow morning?"
"I can't wait until tomorrow morning, this is a big deal related to having enough to eat!"
The village headman hurriedly went to change his shoes. His wife, having no other choice, went to light a torch and carried it up the mountain. The wolves dared not approach.
Old Zhao looked at Cheng Wanwan and said approvingly, "Auntie Dashan, I misjudged you before."
Upon discovering a large patch of jade shoots, knowing they were edible, she immediately came to inform the village head. This showed that Da Shan Niang was not as selfish and greedy as he had imagined.
He used to think his third son's wife was nice, but when faced with the huge temptation of grain, her true character was revealed.
Cheng Wanwan coughed and said, "There are only six people in our family, including a young child and a pregnant woman. We can't possibly dig up all these jade bamboo shoots..."
Most importantly, she has a marketplace trading system where a handful of wild vegetables can be exchanged for several kilograms of rice, ensuring that her family won't go hungry even in famine years, unlike others.
She never thought of herself as particularly selfless, but at least she wouldn't compete with a group of people who saw no hope for life-saving food.
The village headman came out carrying a torch, followed by his three sons. Old Zhao went back to call his second and third sons, and the group of seven grown men went up the mountain at night, which was not very dangerous.
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