Chapter 168 Sweet Potato Leaves
There is no time to waste. It is better to replace eggs with grains as soon as possible.
Liu Yinyin asked casually, "Do you need my help? I happen to have a bicycle at home."
It is indeed more convenient to go to Shuangxi Village by bicycle.
However, Huang Xiaoyue felt a little embarrassed to bother her sister-in-law: "Will it be inconvenient?"
It's okay for her to go back to her parents' home alone, but it will take a little longer.
"It's not inconvenient at all. I'm fine at home." Liu Yinyin said.
It's just a trip to her parents' home with me. She's free at home anyway.
and......
Suddenly thinking of something, Liu Yinyin smiled and said, "That's great. I want to exchange two more kilograms of honey with Uncle Huang."
She had used most of the several kilograms of honey when she pickled wild boar.
It is quite good to keep honey at home and use it to make tea or entertain guests.
Therefore, Liu Yinyin wanted to exchange two kilograms of honey with Huang Laizi.
Huang Xiaoyue smiled and said, "What do you want in exchange? Just two kilograms of honey. I'll ask my dad to give it to you."
"That won't work." Two kilograms of honey can be exchanged for six kilograms of cornmeal. Liu Yinyin felt embarrassed to accept other people's things for free.
It was noon now and the sun was scorching hot.
The two of them agreed to go to Shuangxi Village in the afternoon when it was not so hot.
Liu Yinyin took a nap with Gu Yanyan.
It was almost half past three when he pushed his bicycle and took Gu Yanyan to Liu's house to find Huang Xiaoyue.
After leaving Gu Yanyan at Liu's house, Liu Yinyin took Huang Xiaoyue to Huang's house.
Riding a bicycle is fast, and in less than half an hour, the two arrived at Shuangxi Village.
Like Liujia Village, Shuangxi Village also suffered from drought. Fortunately, there were many rivers in the village, so there was no shortage of water for irrigating crops.
Along the way, Liu Yinyin saw the villagers of Shuangxi Village busy carrying water to water the fields.
Afraid that Huang Laizi was working, Huang Xiaoyue went to the fields to look for him first.
However, the captain of Shuangxi Village said that Huang Laizi had asked for leave today and did not come to work.
Huang Laizi is a hardworking person and seldom takes leave on weekdays.
Huang Xiaoyue thought his father was not feeling well, so he hurried home, but found that Huang Laizi was not at home at all.
Liu Yinyin comforted him, "Maybe he went out for something."
If something really happened, there is no way the people in the village would not know about it.
Huang Xiaoyue shook her head and was no longer anxious: "My father must have gone to the back hill to work on the sweet potato field again."
Huang Laizi is the only one at home, so he has to take care of the sweet potato field every once in a while.
There was no other choice but to take one or two days off a month to go to the mountains to tend the sweet potato fields.
Huang Xiaoyue has the key to the house, and she also knows where the eggs and honey are kept.
But since they were already here, and since the father and daughter had a good relationship, Huang Xiaoyue still wanted to meet her father.
So she said to Liu Yinyin: "Why don't we go to the mountain? It's a good opportunity to see how the sweet potato fields are growing."
"......That's fine." Liu Yinyin was not in a hurry to go back.
He put down his bicycle and followed Huang Xiaoyue to the back mountain.
On the way, Huang Xiaoyue took her to a bamboo forest, and the two of them dug a basket full of bamboo shoots.
Huang Xiaoyue said excitedly: "Although Shuangxi Village is a bit remote, there are really a lot of mountain products on the mountain."
To be honest, she prefers her mother's village, which is mountainous and sparsely populated.
There are many opportunities in the mountains. Even if the harvest is poor, you won't starve to death as long as you work hard and rely on the things in the mountains.
It’s not like Liujia Village...whenever there’s something good on the mountain, everyone rushes to grab it, and if you go too late there’s nothing left.
Liu Yinyin was also quite envious, as the mountains were full of gifts from nature.
Unfortunately, Huang Xiaoyue is a married girl, otherwise.
Whenever she had time, she would shamelessly come to Shuangxi Village to pick wild vegetables and mushrooms.
A basket of bamboo shoots is quite heavy, weighing about 40 to 50 kilograms.
Since no one came to the back mountain, Huang Xiaoyue hid the bamboo shoot basket in the bushes on the side of the road.
Take it back when they come back.
When the two arrived at the hot spring, they saw the yellow croaker watering and pulling up vines in the sweet potato field.
Liu Yinyin took a closer look and found that the sweet potatoes had been planted for about four months and were growing well. The vines were lush and green, with branches and leaves growing profusely. Everywhere she looked was green.
In another month or two, it should be ready for harvest.
This acre of land contains at least 1,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes.
"Dad!" Huang Xiaoyue shouted excitedly.
"......coming." Huang Laizi was slightly stunned when he looked up and saw the lady, then he smiled foolishly.
Huang Xiaoyue hadn't been to the sweet potato field for some time. She didn't expect that the sweet potatoes had grown so well.
She asked in surprise, "Daddy, are there any sweet potatoes popping up from the ground?"
Huang Laizi nodded. He was happy that the sweet potatoes were growing well. “But they are still small… In a month or so, we can dig them out and eat them.”
If the girl likes the sweet potatoes, he will send a few baskets to Liujia Village when they are ripe.
Huang Xiaoyue is not a sweet potato lover.
Shuangxi Village mainly produces sweet potatoes. Huang Xiaoyue has eaten a lot of sweet potatoes since she was a child. No matter how good the food is, you will get tired of it if you eat too much.
She doesn't like sweet potatoes, but she is thinking about exchanging them for rice and flour.
The sweet potatoes this month are ready to be picked and fed to pigs.
Huang Laizi had a pig at home, and he picked a basket of sweet potato leaves and took it back to feed the pig.
Thinking that the Liu family also raised pigs, Huang Laizi asked his daughter to take some back with her.
He had heard about the situation in Liujia Village a long time ago, where even wild vegetables were difficult to dig.
Huang Xiaoyue refused without thinking. She was not being polite to Huang Laizi.
However, the sweet potatoes in the village have just been planted this month, so where are the sweet potato leaves?
If Huang Xiaoyue took the sweet potato leaves back like this, wouldn’t it be telling everyone that she was secretly growing sweet potatoes at home?
It will be difficult for her to explain then.
It's better if fewer people know about this kind of thing, so even if Huang Laizi only raised one pig, it couldn't eat up all the sweet potato leaves in an acre of land.
Huang Xiaoyue didn't dare to bring the sweet potato leaves back to the Liu family.
However, she did ask Liu Yinyin if she wanted to feed the chickens with sweet potato leaves.
Anyway, in order to ensure the yield of sweet potatoes, it is necessary to pick off the excess sweet potato leaves from time to time.
Liu Yinyin lives in a remote place, so it’s okay to give her some sweet potato leaves, otherwise it would be a pity to waste them.
Liu Yinyin thought about it, then picked a handful of fresh sweet potato leaves...
"Is that enough?" Huang Xiaoyue asked. "If not, pick some more. Don't be polite. It's not worth anything."
Liu Yinyin smiled slightly and told her: "That's enough. I plan to cook some sweet potato leaves in the evening. It's enough for a meal."
"...Stir-fry?" Huang Xiaoyue was shocked. "Sweet potato leaves can be stir-fried?"
Not only her, but even Huang Laizi was surprised.
In the countryside, sweet potato vines are fed to pigs, and I have never seen anyone eat sweet potato leaves.
Liu Yinyin: "Of course you can. If pigs can eat humans, why can't they? I ate it a few times last year and it tasted pretty good."