Chapter 101 Food Substitutes
Chen Youfu's wife sneered, "Really? Did she say that? She meant there was no food at all, and she just scrounged a bunch of moldy grain from somewhere and said she was making the decision. What decision? Who's going to waste your food?"
I'm so angry! I should be living a good life, but you bother me every day for no reason. Isn't that annoying? Her husband isn't annoyed, but I'm so annoyed!
Nie Laosan's wife blushed immediately: "I, I lied to you, okay?"
When she said this, Wang Fugui's wife said, "Haha, you're afraid we'll eat you up, afraid we'll get jealous, so you're deliberately lying to us, right?"
Wang Fugui's wife's words hit the nail on the head. Everyone was naturally dissatisfied with Nie Laosan's family, and some people were discussing, "How did she know about stockpiling food?"
"Yeah, is she hiding some news from us? Is she secretly hoarding food and deliberately hiding it from everyone?"
"Teacher Huo observed the celestial phenomena at night and figured out what was going on. She stopped us from selling the old grain, but she said nothing and quietly collected the grain herself!"
Nie Laosan was stunned. He, he wanted everyone to take charge of his family. They had received shoddy grain when they collected it, so they had to go find someone. They were fellow villagers, so shouldn't they help?
Seeing this, Chen Youfu sighed and asked, "Where did you get the food from? Did you pay for the food coupons?"
Nie Lao San shook his head: "No, no."
Chen Youfu: "How can you buy food without paying with food coupons? If you did, where did you get so many food coupons?"
When asked this question, Nie Laosan and his wife were dumbfounded.
Chen Youfu: "Where did it come from?"
Nie Laosan's wife murmured, "We... We bought it from the black market..."
Chen Youfu frowned: "Black market?"
He sneered.
In fact, Nie Laosan's family was cheated, and he felt bad for them. After all, there was a family in the production team that did not have to go hungry, and he was willing to be happy for them. He was not the kind of person who hoped that others would have a bad life.
But, the black market? It's a scam, so just accept it. Who else can help you decide? What do you expect?
Chen Youfu looked at Nie Laosan's family with a stern face. "Black market transactions are illegal. They are against the law. They are speculation. I will report your situation to the commune tomorrow and help you recover your money. But how will the commune deal with you then-"
Having said this, Nie Laosan and his wife wanted to kneel down.
Okay, okay, they admit defeat, they admit defeat!
Eight bags of grain have become like this, they have to admit defeat!
So much money wasted, they just accepted it!
They deserved it. Who told them to buy food on the black market? Who told them to be so blind that they got cheated?
Nie Laosan was so distressed that his eyes went dark, his body went limp, and he sat down, gasping for breath for a long time. "Is this the end? Can't I go find them?"
"Looking for it? What the hell! You got cheated, who can you ask for justice? You deserve it!"
Chen Youfu roared coldly, then walked away with his arms swung.
Damn it, I have a temper too. I'm not your servant who has to follow you guys to deal with trivial matters every day!
All the members present were stunned and then gave thumbs up.
Blessed enough to be ruthless, blessed enough to be awesome, blessed enough to be manly!
——
This incident of the Nie family became a laughing stock in the Pingxi Production Brigade.
They simply said they had gotten some information secretly and hid the food, only to be cheated and deserved it. Such people were simply heartless, secretly wanting to eat their own portion without thinking of others.
When Liu Guizhi heard the news, she was shocked. She hurriedly checked her grain everywhere and confirmed that the soybeans were high-quality soybeans and the corn kernels were high-quality corn kernels. She finally breathed a sigh of relief.
This is the family’s food supply, nothing can go wrong, nothing can go wrong.
The children are still young and have to go to school, so they must eat well. They cannot be allowed to chew on tree bark like other families. They must eat well and have enough to eat.
After finishing her exams, Fubao put all her attention into the mountains before school started.
She tried various edible things tentatively, wanting to taste everything.
Brother Dingkun said that the mountains are full of treasures that are inexhaustible and can be used endlessly.
She looked at the vast Rolling Mountain and couldn't help thinking, since it was full of treasures, why couldn't it feed the people and fill their stomachs?
She searched all over the mountains and plains.
Seeing that she insisted, Gu Shengtian had no choice but to accompany her to search all over the mountains.
As they walked, Gu Shengtian got tired and sat down on a tree stump. "Let's have a wild rabbit, a pheasant, and some bird eggs!"
He called out weakly, hoping that the heaven would give him flesh.
Fubao looked at him helplessly: "Brother Shengtian, why are you only thinking about getting something ready-made?"
Gu Shengtian spread his hands, looking very innocent: "Wasn't it possible for meat to fall from the sky before?"
Fu Bao was even more helpless: "This kind of good fortune can only solve temporary problems, but not lifelong problems. It can solve the famine of a family, but not the famine of a village."
Gu Shengtian thought about it and agreed, but he still didn't understand: "Every family should take care of their own family!"
It has always been like this, it has always been like this!
Fubao: "Cui'er usually brings delicious food and gives it to you. If she is very hungry, will you share the delicious food with her?"
Gu Shengtian: “Yes!”
Fubao: "Cui'er's father is so hungry, will you share?"
Gu Shengtian: “Yes!”
Fubao: "Tsui'er and her father are starving all day long. Do you want him to come to our house for dinner every day?"
Gu Shengtian: "How can that be possible?"
Fubao: "So we have to think of a way."
Gu Shengtian pondered for a while, looked at Fubao, and his eyes changed.
He suddenly felt that Fubao was so smart and had thought of things that he had never thought of before.
He touched his head and said, "I am your brother and you are my sister. Why didn't I think of what you said before?"
Fu Bao hummed: "Because you usually only think about whether you can get married in the future!"
You are so young, what are you thinking about!
Gu Shengtian: "You still have Uncle Liang to scare me..."
But he felt quite embarrassed to say this, so he just chuckled and said, "Then I won't think about it anymore!"
As he was speaking, he saw Fubao next to him putting a piece of tree root into his mouth, and was immediately startled: "Fubao, why are you eating this?"
Fubao was chewing the tree root in his mouth. It was difficult to chew, but he could feel that if it was chewed into pieces, it should be edible.
Gu Shengtian looked at her bulging cheeks, and how she was chewing even though she couldn't chew it. He felt so distressed: "Are you starving? Let's go home and let mom boil eggs for you!"
Fubao chewed it for a long time and finally tried to swallow some of it. He found that he could swallow it.
She showed the remaining tree roots to Gu Shengtian: "Brother Shengtian, look, this is called fern root. Brother Dingkun said that fern root powder can be eaten as food."
Gu Shengtian looked at the brown and yellow tree roots and frowned.
He had heard from his parents that people in the past ate tree roots and bark when they were hungry, but he had never eaten them.
He was born under the red flag and grew up in New China. Although he didn't eat well, he had never been hungry. Besides, the fourth branch of the Gu family had lived a good life in the past few years. His father saved money from business and could secretly provide them with nutritious food. When he followed Fubao into the mountains, he could often pick up pheasants and wild ducks to improve their taste. How could he possibly eat tree roots under such circumstances?
Fubao carefully placed the tree root in his backpack and continued walking forward, muttering, "Brother Dingkun said that this fern root can be ground into powder and used as dry food. The corn cores we usually use as firewood can also be ground into powder. We can also eat the prickly buds and red-stemmed vegetables. However, everyone knows that these vegetables will soon be gone in the mountains after the season. But we can dig up grass roots, which are also edible..."
In her dream, someone starved to death.
She didn't want Chen Cui'er, Wang Zhuzi and others to starve to death, nor did she want to see Liu Zhaodi and others starve to death, even though she didn't like her third aunt.
They don't have enough food and may starve to death if the famine continues.
Now everyone doesn't know how long this famine will last, and thinks it will be over in a few months, so they rush to the mountains to pick wild vegetables, picking only the good ones, without making any long-term plans. When winter comes and the weather gets cold, if the crops in the fields are not good enough, they will really starve.
By then, there will be no wild vegetables, grass or leaves to be found, and the whole place will be barren. What will they find to eat?
Gu Shengtian was stunned after hearing this. After a while, he followed Fubao happily: "Hey, I'll help you dig tree roots and grass roots!"
No matter what she wants to do, after all she is his sister, he will do whatever she wants!
——
In his letter, Xiao Dingkun wrote in detail about the method of making fern root powder, saying that it can indeed be used as a substitute for food.
After Fubao dug up all kinds of tree roots and grass roots and returned home, Gu Shengtian was exhausted.
"Mom, Fubao said this is edible. Have you ever eaten it?" He showed it to Liu Guizhi.
"This, yes, is edible..." Liu Guizhi took it and examined it carefully, recognizing it as fern root. "It's edible, but it's not tasty, and it doesn't really satisfy hunger."
It tasted bad and was hard to chew. They had eaten grass roots and tree bark at that time, but they rarely ate this.
"Actually, when it comes to edible things in the mountains, we prefer sweet potato leaves and vines. We can also dig up rotten sweet potatoes from the fields, as well as locust tree flowers, elm leaves, and elm bark. These are all delicious. In winter, we can even peel the bark and eat it."
Fubao listened and knew that people always had doubts and resistance towards things they had not accepted. After all, in these mountains, people generally listened to the elders. What experience could a child have?
Even if she brought up Huo Jinyun or Xiao Dingkun, people would think that you are from the city and may not understand what is happening in the mountains.
So she didn't say anything, but tried to make the fern roots into fern root powder according to the method mentioned in Xiao Dingkun's letter.
This is a very troublesome process. First, you have to clean the ones you picked up. Fern roots are not easy to clean. Besides, she picked up two baskets of fern roots at once, and it is not possible to clean them all at once.
Gu Shengtian had no choice. Even though he felt that this was not a good idea, what else could he do but help!
At this time, Gu Weidong had gone to work in the fields and had not returned yet. Liu Guizhi was washing clothes and watching the two children busying themselves. She sighed and shook her head and said, "You two, we won't starve you at home. You have your parents around, so we won't let you eat this."
Fubao wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked up and said, "Mom, this kind of fern root is everywhere, even in winter. If this is really edible, then everyone can eat it!"
Liu Guizhi listened and had an idea. She walked over and looked at the fern root: "But this is really hard to chew. How can I eat it?"
She wasn't a pushover, unwilling to share her life-saving rations with others. After all, in times of famine, sometimes survival depended on a single bite of food, and no one could be that pushover. But she was also kind-hearted, and if possible, she certainly hoped to help everyone find more food so they wouldn't starve.
Fubao smiled: "Mom, wait a minute, let me try!"
Liu Guizhi looked at her daughter and was stunned.
The late autumn sunshine shines through the gaps in the trees onto Fubao's smooth forehead. There are beads of sweat on his forehead, reflecting beautiful light.
Liu Guizhi suddenly felt that her daughter was like a bodhisattva, able to save people.
After a moment of shock, Liu Guizhi couldn't say anything else and just nodded. "Yeah...it depends on you..."
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