After returning home, Zhao Lan grabbed a handful of candy that her brother-in-law had bought last time and gave one piece to each of the children to play with.
Since the village wall was built, the villagers no longer worry about their children playing outside. In the past, they would worry that the children would run far away, encounter wild animals on the mountain and get hurt, or play in the river or lake. With the wall, there are guards at both the front and back gates, so they can only play in the village. They feel extremely safe.
The children, having received the candy balls, skipped and jumped to find their playmates, overjoyed.
Once outside the courtyard gate, I found that almost every household's children had come out, and the dirt roads and paths in the village were filled with children running and playing.
After watching all the children leave, Zhao Lan closed the courtyard gate, turned around and went into the house, excitedly asking her family, "Dad, eldest brother and sister-in-law, do you know what those medicinal herbs are?"
"Who cares what it is, as long as it makes money, that's all that matters."
"Besides, Shuiqing said that if we want to plant them, we can get the seeds from her. However, she doesn't have much planting experience. If you're not comfortable with it, you can wait until next year. Didn't our family agree to plant them next year?"
The main problem is that their family is just too busy this year. After planting potatoes, they have to plant winter wheat. After the winter wheat is planted, they need to build a pigsty to raise piglets, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, and pigs. With only six able-bodied people working in the fields and at home, they simply don't have the manpower to plant medicinal herbs that they've never planted before and whose harvest is unknown.
“Grain and livestock are so important. We can’t lose these two things. After this batch of potatoes is harvested, we’ll make a lot of potato flour to store. That will provide us with enough grain for at least several years. We can sell the winter wheat for money after the harvest, so it won’t matter if we mess up the land.”
Even if we don't get any medicinal herbs, we won't panic, at least we'll have something to eat to fill our stomachs.
The old village chief listened quietly to his son and daughter-in-law's discussion, without rushing to speak.
Zhao Lan was sweating profusely with anxiety. She exclaimed "Oh dear!" and her voice was a little loud when she spoke, but she quickly lowered it and said, "If you knew what kind of medicinal herb it was, you would never be thinking of growing winter wheat to sell for money!"
Rice and wheat are considered refined grains. The family couldn't bear to eat the rice they grew themselves. Apart from leaving some for their eldest nephew who was studying, they sold the rest to get cornmeal. They then ground the corn from the fields into flour, which was enough for the whole family.
This is already a unique dish in the village.
Their family had a lot of land, and the family members were diligent in managing it. They could harvest nearly one tael of silver a year from one season of rice and one season of winter wheat. This was considered a good harvest in the entire Guangning Prefecture.
But the yield of one tael of silver per mu is nothing compared to the value of He Shou Wu (Polygonum multiflorum).
How can you compare them? There's simply no comparison!
Wang Guifen laughed and said, "I'm so anxious! Tell me what kind of medicinal herb it is. Is it really worth getting so excited?"
"Yes, stop keeping me in suspense and tell me."
Zhang Hui joked, "I want to see just how precious these medicinal herbs are that they'd excite you enough to give the children candy."
"We've already made some money from rabbits, so we've seen the world. Why are you still so excited?" Li Qiang looked at his wife and shook his head helplessly.
Zhao Lan rolled her eyes at her husband, ignored him, and said to her father-in-law, "It's He Shou Wu!"
As soon as he said it, a collective gasp filled the room.
Then I heard a chorus of "Wow!"
"Polygonum multiflorum"
Are you sure?
"How is that possible? Did I hear that right?"
The three Li brothers stood with their mouths half-open, not reacting for a while.
"My God, it's actually He Shou Wu! I never expected it to be He Shou Wu." Wang Guifen expressed the sentiments of everyone present.
“Yes, I didn’t expect to find He Shou Wu either, but then I thought, didn’t Father dig it up when he was young? This shows that He Shou Wu is suitable for growing here.” Zhao Lan was very satisfied with the current atmosphere.
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