Taking advantage of the absence of others, Meng Zhao hurriedly flipped through the booklets in his hands. Sure enough, they were very difficult to read. He could recognize most of the characters, but the county annals were clearly written by scholars. The wording was far too concise. No wonder the annals of a county were only the thickness of an ordinary book.
This continued until he closed the shop and returned home. As soon as he finished what he was doing, Meng Zhao moved a chair and sat in the courtyard, concentrating intently on studying the booklet in his hands.
Since she can't go out now, she can only rely on these things to learn more about the outside world. When Shen Qinghe returned, before he could even sit down, Meng Zhao pulled him over.
Meng Zhao picked up a booklet, quickly flipped to the page she had bookmarked, pointed to a sentence and asked Shen Qinghe to look at it, "Second brother, can you help me see what this means?"
Shen Qinghe's gaze fell on the book in his sister-in-law's hand, and he softly read the sentence aloud: "In the third year of Jian'an, there was a village that was short of food, so they ate a lot of kudzu. After eating, they all became dizzy and vomited, and seven of them died."
After finishing reading, Shen Qinghe blinked and quietly looked at Meng Zhao. Meng Zhao was a little stunned by his gaze and wondered to herself: Why did he stop reading? She quickly realized that Shen Qinghe probably thought she didn't recognize some words, so he was just reading them to her.
Meng Zhao immediately pretended to suddenly understand and asked, "Oh, I see! Second brother, what is this vine? How can it poison so many people at once?"
Upon hearing Meng Zhao's question, Shen Qinghe patiently explained it to her step by step.
"This kudzu tree usually grows in the mountains, forming clumps underground. Its outer skin is brown and wrinkled, with a hard texture, and the size is not very uniform. However, this kudzu tree contains a lot of poison and cannot be eaten. If it is consumed, it will cause vomiting and diarrhea. If too much is consumed, it may even be fatal."
"The book you are reading, sister-in-law, records that because of the food shortage at the time, some villagers went into the mountains to pick kudzu vines to eat, which led to this tragedy."
Then, as if remembering something, she continued, "However, I have heard that this kudzu tree can be used to fight poison with poison. Some doctors say that it can detoxify, reduce swelling, treat wounds, and eliminate scabies. But I don't know if it's true or not."
After listening to Shen Qinghe's description, Meng Zhao roughly knew what it was. It should be a very common food in modern times, namely cassava.
Raw cassava does contain toxins, including linamarin and arabinoside, which can be fatal if consumed in excess. However, these toxins can be removed through special processing methods.
Moreover, cassava is easy to grow and has a high yield. More importantly, it has an extremely high starch content, reaching 30-40%, which is much higher than that of potatoes, making it very worthwhile to develop.
"What are you looking at, sister-in-law?"
Upon hearing Shen Qinghe's question, Meng Zhao snapped out of her reverie and explained:
"My second uncle and Gu Yun came back today and brought me some books to pass the time. I read them in my spare time."
"My uncles are back. How are they?" Shen Qinghe was also pleasantly surprised.
Meng Zhao replied, "Everything is fine, it's just that the journey was a bit tiring."
Shen Qinghe nodded, then looked at the booklet in Meng Zhao's hand and said, "If you want to read, sister-in-law, I can borrow some books from the county school."
Meng Zhao looked surprised: "Really?"
Shen Qinghe smiled and nodded: "Of course. The county school has a rich collection of books, many of which cannot be bought outside. What kind of books does my sister-in-law want to read? I can help you find them."
Upon hearing this, Meng Zhao was overjoyed and happily said, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Second Brother. I don't really like reading classics, histories, philosophical works, and the like, but I do have a special fondness for travelogues and other miscellaneous books. If it's convenient for you, Second Brother, once I've finished reading these books, you can help me borrow some of these kinds of books from the county school."
Shen Qinghe nodded in agreement. Afterward, Meng Zhao asked him some other questions.
During his conversation with Shen Qinghe, Meng Zhao was pleasantly surprised to find that he was not only well-versed in the contents of the books, but also had a great deal of knowledge about geographical features and local customs, making him truly erudite.
A few days later, Meng Zhao was busy in the shop when the village head suddenly came to find her, saying that the batch of farm tools she had ordered earlier had been completed. Coincidentally, Gu Shi and the others also returned from the dock, so Meng Zhao went back to Shenjia Village with the village head in a donkey cart.
Upon arriving at the village, the village head went to gather the villagers, while Meng Zhao went to the pigsty by himself.
Shi Tou and Shun'er were busy in the yard when they suddenly heard a noise outside. They looked at each other, put down their work, and hurried out to check. They were overjoyed to see that it was Meng Zhao.
"Shun'er, Shitou, have you eaten today?"
Stone replied, "They've eaten. The piglets have been eating more and more lately, and they're getting bigger and bigger. These past few days, they've gained almost a pound of meat every day when we weigh them."
Upon hearing this, Meng Zhao couldn't help but chuckle and shook his head helplessly, "I'm asking you two if you've eaten."
The two then realized what had happened, scratched their heads sheepishly, and chuckled as they replied, "We've already eaten."
There are two stoves built in the pigsty because they are used to make pig feed. They usually cook for themselves in one of them. Recently, Gu Yun and Xu Ping no longer have to run around with the village head, so they come over to eat with Shun'er and Shi Tou. Meng Zhao also brings them some good food from time to time.
After asking a few questions about their recent situation, Meng Zhao picked up the booklet on the wall and looked around.
This booklet was specially made for them by Meng Zhao. It lists the tasks that must be completed each day, and he specifically instructed them to put a checkmark next to each task as soon as they were completed.
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