The village chief and the others were reluctant to put the sweet potatoes and potatoes into the fire to roast.
After washing everything clean, cut it into small pieces and put it in two large earthenware pots to cook into a soup.
I cooked some fresh seafood in a small earthenware pot.
Li Lanzhen saw that there were fish, shrimp, clams, squid, sea cucumbers, quite a mixed bunch.
The village chief's wife smashed a piece of clean ginger with a stick and threw it into the earthenware pot used for cooking seafood.
Li Lanzhen observed that they didn't seem to have iron pots; they used earthenware pots for everything, whether cooking rice or fish.
However, these pottery jars all have wide mouths and large bellies.
Fifteen minutes later, the sweet potatoes and potato chunks emitted a sweet aroma.
The pot of seafood also emitted its unique aroma.
Li Lanzhen was relieved. She was really scared that the cooked seafood would have a fishy smell, and she didn't know if she would still want to eat it.
Now it seems there's no need to worry.
Fresh ingredients, prepared in a simple way, can make a delicious dish.
In this dynasty, the seawater was unpolluted, the seafood in the sea was uncontaminated, and even the air was fresh.
So it tastes great as long as you boil it in water.
Li Lanzhen didn't eat the sweet potato and potato soup; she only scooped up a bowl of seafood soup.
I took a sip of the soup first. It was delicious. The wild ginger was spicy, which enhanced the freshness of the seafood and also suppressed the fishy smell. One sip warmed me up.
The village chief gave each family a bowl of the two jars of sweet potatoes and potato soup to take home and eat.
Each household in the village sent one person, who carried a bowl in both hands, and happily went home.
Li Lanzhen discovered that the village chief's family had quite a few people, more than a dozen.
She has three sons and two daughters.
The two sons are already married, and the family has three sons and two daughters.
Both adults and children were dark-skinned and thin.
It felt like a layer of skin was taut, wrapping around the bones.
The sweet potato and potato soup was distributed to the families in the village, and there wasn't much left. In this big family, the men were given most of a bowl, the women half a bowl, and the children even less.
This shows that the village chief is quite fair and selfless.
While eating, Li Lanzhen observed them, noticing several times that the village chief seemed to want to say something but remained silent.
She didn't say anything, and since she didn't ask, the problem must be a bit troublesome.
She didn't want to cause trouble; she just wanted to bring some dried seafood back to Youzhou Prefecture.
Incidentally, if I can help them a little, I will.
Li Lanzhen ate two bowls of seafood soup, then washed her bowl with water and put it in her basket.
The women went to clear the dishes, and the children must have run out to play in the village.
Only the village chief and his two eldest sons were sitting there.
Li Lanzhen sat quietly while the village chief's daughter, a girl of about twelve or thirteen, brought over five or six dried squid and put them on the stove to roast.
Soon, the dried squid emitted a sweet and pungent aroma.
After grilling the dried squid until golden brown on both sides, she brought out a stone and a short wooden stick as thick as an arm.
Place the dried squid, which you just roasted, on a stone next to the fire pit, and gently pound it with a wooden stick.
Before long, the dried squid, which had been roasted to a golden brown, was pounded and loosened again.
She handed it to Li Lanzhen with a smile.
"Auntie, have some, it's delicious!"
Li Lanzhen smiled and took it, tore off a strip, put it in her mouth, and chewed it slowly.
It has a rich, unique sweet and savory squid flavor, and a chewy, springy texture.
It's much fresher and tastier than the packaged dried squid you buy in supermarkets now.
Li Lanzhen took out more than a dozen pieces of malt candy from her pocket and handed them to the girl.
"Here you go, take this and eat it with your younger brother, sister, and nephews."
Li Lanzhen clearly watched the little girl swallow her saliva, her bright eyes glued to the malt candy.
But instead of reaching out to take it, he looked up at the village chief.
The village chief smiled kindly, "Take it, if your aunt gives it to you, then take it."
Once the atmosphere had eased, the village chief finally spoke.
"Hey girl, I want to talk to you about something."
Li Lanzhen looked up at him without saying a word.
He continued, “Our fishing village is very poor. We can sell three days’ worth of seafood, but it won’t bring in much food.”
There are only two villages around here, ours and another one. You see, it's just over this mountain. Their village has an even harder life than ours.
I was thinking, could you buy their village's seafood as well and exchange it for food?
After speaking, the village chief looked at Li Lanzhen with expectant eyes.
Li Lanzhen thought for a moment and nodded.
"Okay, but only if all their dried seafood is exactly the same clean and hygienic as yours before you can trade it for grain."
"You're in charge of quality control. If even one supplier fails to meet the standards, I won't accept any of them."
After Li Lanzhen finished speaking, the village chief's two sons visibly straightened their bodies and looked at the village chief seriously.
The village chief sat up straight and solemnly spoke to Li Lanzhen.
"My benefactor, don't worry, I will make sure the quality of the dried seafood is well controlled."
Moreover, the people in our village are not the kind of people who cheat or deceive; they all know that this is something that will be eaten, so they clean it very thoroughly.
And all of it is fresh seafood, cleaned and dried.
When it was time to rest at night, the village chief had Li Lanzhen sleep with the dark-skinned, thin girl from earlier and a few others.
There was no bed or wooden plank; the floor was probably covered with thatch, and on top of that was a woven rattan mat, which was thankfully soft.
The next morning, Li Lanzhen did not eat at the village chief's house.
She said she wanted to go out for a walk and take a look around.
Tell the village chief to hurry up and collect all the dried seafood that can be exchanged for grain with him, and put it in their house.
Weigh the grain and calculate the amount of grain to be exchanged.
Li Lanzhen didn't go to the beach. Instead, she wanted to give them sweet potatoes and potatoes so they could have seeds to harvest more food. She wanted to go to the mountains behind the beach to take a look.
Since you want to help them, go and see what the soil quality is like on the mountain.
Is it possible to grow sweet potatoes and potatoes?
After climbing up the hillside, you can see patches of reclaimed wasteland, where some vegetables are planted.
Radishes, cabbages, and a few other vegetables I don't recognize.
The plants weren't growing very well, so she grabbed a handful of soil to take a look.
Even if you grow sweet potatoes and potatoes on such land, the yield won't be very high.
But there must be some kind of food that can bring them a glimmer of hope.
"Auntie, Auntie."
Li Lanzhen squatted down in the ground, grabbed a handful of soil, and looked at it in thought when she heard a childish voice calling her.
He stood up and turned around; in front of him were two children.
A boy, about ten years old, was sitting next to a little girl, about two or three years old, clinging tightly to his thigh.
The two children were too thin; they looked like big-headed dolls.
The eyes weren't big, but they were dark and bright.
The boy was holding a few things in his hands. When he saw Li Lanzhen looking at them, he said timidly.
"Auntie, it's just my sister and me in our family now."
We can't catch much seafood, and we have very little dried seafood at home.
However, there was no food, and my younger sister had nothing to eat.
"Can I trade this with my aunt for grain?"
He said he held those things in his hands and raised them high for Li Lanzhen to see.
He said eagerly, "Auntie, it's sweet. Look, if you peel off the outer skin and bite hard, sweet juice will come out."
Upon hearing his words, a thought flashed through Li Lanzhen's mind.
She picked up the four or five red and black sticks, about the thickness of a child's arm, that the child was holding and examined them closely.
Good heavens! Isn't it sugarcane?!
I searched around Peach Blossom Valley, West Mountain East Mountain, and even the nearby mountains several times but couldn't find this sugarcane.
I actually found it here!
She squatted down, took out six pieces of malt candy, and handed them to the little girl.
The little girl's eyes lit up, her lips moved, and she was about to grab the candy with both hands when she pulled them back and looked up at her brother.
The little boy grabbed two pieces of malt candy from Li Lanzhen's hand.
"Thank you, Auntie. Two pieces are enough for my sister. You can have the rest."
After saying that, he put a piece in his sister's mouth, and took out a leaf from his body, wrapped it up, and put it away.
Li Lanzhen put the rest of the maltose in his hand.
"Keep it for your sister to eat slowly, you can have a piece too."
"Auntie, this isn't called sugarcane, it's called 'intestinal cleansing grass.' It's sweet!"
"Intestinal Cleansing Grass?! How can something so sweet have such a strange name!"
Li Lanzhen didn't know; all she knew was that it was called sugarcane!
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