Chapter 18 Digging Lotus Roots
I feel a little embarrassed that my twenty-year-old soul is being held high up by a seventeen-year-old boy.
After they walked for a while, they unexpectedly met Erbao.
When Erbao saw them, he smiled and scratched Xiaodie's nose with his finger: "Come, let me hold you."
It seems like he really enjoys teasing children.
Although she looked thin and small, her physical age was twelve and her soul age was twenty. The two brothers spoiled her like a five or six-year-old kid, making Ding Xiaodie want to crawl into the ground.
She simply broke free from Dabao's arms: "Brother Erbao, where are my parents?"
Erbao pointed ahead: "They went back first!"
Ding Xiaodie blinked her dark eyes smartly: "Why don't we go shopping again!"
"Okay, Xiaodie, where do you want to go? Usually we don't have much chance to go to the city from the village. Although there is no one in the town this time, it is quiet." Erbao smiled with beautiful dimples.
Dabao also agreed: "There's nothing to do when I go back anyway."
Walk around and take a look, maybe you can get some food, even if it's just catching a snake like just now.
The two brothers saw Xiaodie take out a blueprint from her arms.
Dabao recognized it at a glance. This was not the map of Yangliu Town that he had just found in the yamen.
Xiaodie spread the map on the ground, pointed to a piece of land with her little hand and said, "Let's go over here and take a look."
That was a paddy field.
Earlier in the yamen, Ding Xiaodie took a quick look at the town map. The town map was not complicated, with only a few large planned areas, and she could get a general idea at a glance.
She found that if she walked along the road at the east end of the town, she could see large paddy fields, and there was a lotus pond next to the paddy fields, although there was definitely no water in the lotus pond.
But she still wanted to try her luck.
Dabao was very surprised: "Xiaodie, you can actually read a map?"
Ding Xiaodie quickly shook her head: "No, Brother Dabao, I'm looking at a painting. Look here, it's a painting of the city gate, walking this way, the fields, the water, look!"
The two brothers leaned over to take a look, and found that it was indeed the case.
"Xiaodie, you are so smart." Erbao patted her little head.
Ding Xiaodie laughed heartlessly: "Let's go, brothers."
…
The three of them searched along the road on the map for a while and finally saw a large area of barren paddy fields. There was nothing in the fields except dry weeds, and large cracks had appeared on the ground due to the sun.
Seeing everything in front of them, Dabao and Erbao's faces were full of disappointment.
"The people in Yangliu Town are also miserable. Their fields are exactly the same as ours in Aozigou." Dabao sighed.
Erbao even jumped into the field and stepped on it, and all he heard was the sound of hard earth.
The sound made people feel deeply desperate under the scorching sun, and the three of them suddenly felt dry in the mouth.
At this time, Ding Xiaodie really wanted to go into the space, but she couldn't do that. However, when she looked at the lotus pond in the distance, she was surprised to find something.
"Brother Dabao, look, there are still a few green leaves in the lotus pond in the corner that haven't withered yet. Let's go over and take a look!"
After walking for a long time, Ding Xiaodie finally discovered a new world and was so happy.
Dabao didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "There's no way there's water."
Look at what the pond bottom has become.
"Let's go, let's go and take a look!" Ding Xiaodie knew that they were both tired, and they were facing despair again and again, so it was easy for their mentality to collapse at this time.
Dabao and Erbao looked at each other.
Apart from anything else, they were willing to do anything to make the little girl happy.
The three of them finally walked around half a circle and arrived at the corner of the lotus pond.
As they got closer, the smile on Ding Xiaodie's little mouth grew bigger and bigger.
Dabao and Erbao, who had never seen a lotus pond before, were disappointed again.
There is no water at all, just mud. Even if there is a small mud hole with some water in it, that would be good, but there is no such thing.
Just when the two brothers were about to persuade her to go home, Ding Xiaodie took off her tattered cloth shoes with shining eyes and threw them on the dam, then rushed into the mud impatiently.
Erbao was startled: "Xiaodie, what are you doing?"
Dabao said sideways: "Are you going crazy with thirst, little girl?"
You can see at a glance that there is no water, but you still insist on rushing in?
Soon, the mud buried her thin legs. Ding Xiaodie grabbed a withered lotus leaf and dug her little hand into the mud along the root of the lotus leaf, feeling as she dug. Unexpectedly, she finally touched something.
“Got it!”
Ding Xiaodie suddenly shouted in surprise and joy: "I got it, I got it, brothers, come quickly."
What?
Dabao and Erbao didn't understand why, but seeing that the little girl looked very excited, it was probably related to food.
Without saying anything, the two of them quickly took off their shoes and walked hurriedly to Xiaodie: "What's going on?"
Xiaodie said, "Brother Dabao, put your hand down, a little lower!"
She took Dabao's hand and dug into the mud. Seeing his expression change, she asked, "Did you feel it? That's something to eat. It's called lotus root."
"What lotus root?" Erbao had never heard of it before.
"Lotus root."
In that era, goods were not so widely circulated and there were very few villages with lotus ponds. It is understandable that Erbao had never heard of it.
In fact, Dabao had never heard of it, but the most important thing was that he really touched it.
"It's true." Dabao was so happy that he immediately held the lotus root node tightly, fearing that it would disappear if he let go.
Erbao was both happy and envious, and he went forward to touch it, so Xiaodie taught him, saying, "This is called lotus root. You can eat it boiled, steamed, or even cold!"
After she finished speaking, she realized that she was just talking complacently, and the two young men in front of her were looking at her in surprise.
"Xiaodie, you really know a lot."
"Yeah, Xiaodie, who taught you this?"
Ding Xiaodie hummed a sigh and said, "Of course it's my dad. Don't be fooled by his cowardly appearance. He actually knows a lot. It's just that he's always bullied by his uncles at home, so he doesn't dare to express his own ideas."
When talking about her family, Dabao and Erbao both showed sympathy on their faces.
At this moment, Erbao also shouted happily: "I touched it too!"
"Brother Erbao is awesome." Ding Xiaodie wiped away the sadness she had just feigned and clapped her hands, saying, "Now you all know how to find it, right? As long as there's soft mud, find a lotus leaf and feel around carefully. Remember, lotus roots can grow very deep in the mud, so be careful not to break them!"
After she finished speaking, she stepped forward to demonstrate, but she was not strong enough, and with the help of Erbao, she finally pulled out a lotus root with three nodes.
Dabao and Erbao looked at the clay basket in front of them curiously, and a big question mark appeared in their heads: Is this really edible?
(End of this chapter)
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