If someone had told Chief Wang before last night that the roots of the poisonous plant were edible, Chief Wang would not have believed it at all.
But! After eating that delicious bowl of potatoes last night, what reason did Chief Wang have to not believe it?
After all, his whole family ate potatoes and none of them got poisoned, which proves that what Wan Shu and the others said is true!
Chief Wang made a decision quickly.
"Such good news, of course I have to tell everyone! But before I tell you, I have to go up the mountain to check the yield first, so that you don't get your hopes up for nothing."
"That's natural; caution is never a bad thing."
After breakfast, Wan Shu's family took the Wang clan chief's family up the mountain.
Looking at the lush green potato field stretching as far as the eye could see, Chief Wan held the potatoes in his hands, almost in tears.
"It really is! There really are tens of thousands of kilograms of potatoes! With these potatoes, we can definitely survive until the autumn harvest! Grandma Wu's family is saved too!"
Wang's sons and daughters-in-law also had tears in their eyes.
"We no longer have to worry about starving to death before the autumn harvest!"
"I used to hate potatoes the most, thinking they were taking up the nutrients from wild vegetables. I never thought I'd have to rely on them to fill my stomach!"
"Waaah, I will never hate potatoes again, and I will never pull potatoes out again. They are delicious and have a high yield. I will definitely plant some in the field next year."
Clan Chief Wang wiped his eyes: "These are all things for later. Right now, we need to quickly tell everyone this good news!"
Today is the Great Heat.
The Great Heat is the hottest time of the year.
Under the blazing sun, cicadas chirped incessantly.
Everyone in the Wang family was tanned and sweating profusely, but each of them still wore a happy smile.
They couldn't wait to tell the villagers the good news!
They hurried down the mountain, but when they reached the foot of the mountain, they found that the villagers who should have been working in the fields and carrying water were all gathering at the drying ground.
Unable to keep up with their pace, Wan Shu, who was at the back, frowned, sensing that something was wrong.
Chief Wang also felt something was off, so he pulled a villager aside and asked, "What's going on? It's so hot at midday, why is everyone rushing to the drying ground?"
The villagers who were pulled back beamed with joy: "Chief Wang, haven't you heard? The village head's family has found new grain on the mountain! They want everyone to gather at the threshing ground to distribute it!"
After saying that, the villagers hurriedly ran away.
"How come Li Dagen also found new food on the mountain?" Aunt Wang scratched her head in confusion. "Could it be that he also found potatoes?"
Wang Peng, the youngest son of the clan chief, complained, "Li Dagen is such a nuisance! He always argues with Father about everything!"
"You're not allowed to talk nonsense."
Chief Wang kicked his youngest son: "Finding food is a good thing, and it's also a good thing that he's willing to tell everyone. As long as everyone can have enough to eat, it doesn't matter who says it."
"Let's go, stop making a fuss, let's go and see. Since he's willing to talk, we can save ourselves the trouble of explaining to everyone."
The group then headed towards the drying ground.
Upon arriving at the drying ground, they discovered that the grain Li Dagen had found was not potatoes, but a kind of long, black tree root.
Upon seeing the tree roots, Wan Shu immediately recognized them as fern roots!
This is the rhizome of a fern. Like potatoes, it is rich in starch, but the fibers are dry, hard, and coarse, so it cannot be eaten directly like potatoes.
The starch needs to be extracted through pounding, washing, sedimentation, and drying.
Although the production process is complicated and the loss rate is high, with less than one pound of starch extracted from ten pounds of fern roots, it was still a precious food for people during famine years.
She just didn't expect that Li Dagen, who seemed to have little knowledge, could actually discover such a tricky ingredient as fern root.
Just then, Li Dagen pulled Liang Yaozu and walked to the front.
Many people are puzzled by his actions.
"Village head, what are you doing? Weren't you supposed to be distributing grain? Why did you put a bundle of tree roots there?"
Liang Yaozu is sixteen years old this year.
As the only scholar in the village, he wore a long gown that was out of place among the villagers, and his posture was upright, making him look quite arrogant.
He walked to the fern root, raised his head, and spoke condescendingly.
"This is not a tree root. It is a food called fern powder. According to ancient records, after several steps of processing, the finest grain can be extracted from it."
Li Dagen chimed in at the opportune moment: "We've already experimented with the methods in the ancient books, and it's true that we can extract the grains, and they're incredibly smooth and delicious!"
As he spoke, he took out a piece of fern cake made from fern root powder and ate it in a few bites in front of everyone.
This action made Wan Shu's lips twitch.
I thought to myself, "Uncle, are you serious? If you're going to prove this stuff is really edible, you should at least share a little with everyone. This stinginess is just unbelievable."
However, due to their trust in Li Dagen's identity as the village head and their admiration for Liang Yaozu's status as a scholar, all the villagers present believed him.
"My God, there are such tricky grains in this world! If it weren't for Yaozu, we would never have known!"
"Yaozu truly deserves to be called a scholar. I knew studying was useful!"
"Village head, I wonder how much fern powder there is, and how much will be distributed among the family?"
Li Dagen smiled smugly: "According to my estimate, there are at least tens of thousands of kilograms of fern powder on the back mountain of our Qingshui Village!"
Wan Shu calculated that even with an extraction rate of 10%, more than 10,000 jin of fern roots could only yield a maximum of more than 1,000 jin of fern powder.
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