The cook didn't even let the manor's rhubarb taste the food. She just picked up the potatoes that had been stewed until they were soft and smelled of meat and put them into her mouth without caring about the heat.
The aroma of meat and the unique fragrance of potatoes mixed together and exploded in the cook's mouth.
It is soft, salty and fragrant, and tastes great.
It also has a soft texture. Maybe it can be steamed alone and used as a staple food. Maybe I can also add some of it to pastries? After all, I am a cook, so I quickly thought of several ways to eat it.
It was the first time that Wu had seen her cook, who came with her as a dowry, so impatient. She sniffed the aroma of the meat in the pot and swallowed her nonexistent saliva. "How does it taste?"
The cook suddenly remembered her negligence when she was asked this question. She quickly picked up her bowl and chopsticks and picked up two pieces of Wu's meat to taste. "Madam, please try it."
Mrs. Wu took the chopsticks and imitated the cook's previous actions, picked up a piece and put it into her mouth, chewing it carefully.
tasty!
After eating a whole piece of potato, these two words were the only ones left in Wu's mind. She immediately picked up the second piece, and soon half of the potatoes in the pot were eaten by Wu.
By the time she realized this, she was already full. Mrs. Wu had never lost her composure in front of the servants like this before, and she looked quite embarrassed. Fortunately, the cook was hers, so she didn't worry that she would tell others.
Wu reluctantly put down her chopsticks and said to the cook, "Peel the remaining potatoes and add them to the stew. The three young masters will be back soon."
Even though he had the money, he couldn't forget his brothers in the mountains. As soon as Jiang Zhen returned to the mansion, he asked his eldest son Jiang Da to take out some of the money and go to the grain store and the meat store to buy meat. Today, not only the people in the mansion would eat meat, but the brothers in the mountains would not be left behind.
So Jiang Da was now taking his two younger brothers and close confidants to deliver food to the designated place.
Wu asked the cook to continue stewing potatoes and left the kitchen to find Jiang Zhen. When she arrived at the martial arts field, Jiang Zhen was discussing the issue of purchasing winter food with his subordinates.
This subordinate was his trusted confidant whom he replaced in the army and promoted step by step. Now that he had some money this year, he had to make sure his brothers in the mountains had enough food and clothing.
Besides, they are not just the people living on the hill in the village outside the east city.
Jiang Zhen was halfway through giving instructions when he caught a glimpse of his wife, who rarely came here. He was surprised and asked, "Why are you here?"
"I have something to discuss with you."
Wu's face was full of mystery, leaving Jiang Zhen completely bewildered. He thought she was here to invite him back for dinner.
"What's the matter?" As Jiang Zhen's bedmate, Wu knew who he was working for. She asked immediately, "You didn't come back with Miss Song, so do you know when she will be home?"
Jiang Zhen was even more confused when she suddenly mentioned Miss Song. "You don't want to visit both families, do you? Didn't I tell you it's not the right time yet?"
Although Guizhou is his territory, there is no guarantee that there is no bad luck hidden in the pot.
"That's not what I'm asking." Mrs. Wu wanted to drool when she thought of the taste of the two potatoes just now, but she remembered that she was an official's wife after all, so she calmed down. "I want you to ask Miss Song if potatoes are suitable for cultivation here."
Mrs. Wu thought that even if the yield was not high, growing some in her own vegetable garden could still be used as a dish, and it could even replace food to sustain the family for a while from time to time.
"Are you talking about potatoes?" Jiang Zhen had never thought about it at all. In his eyes, the nearest Xinzhou did not have any food suitable for cultivation in Guizhou.
So when this food called potatoes appeared, Jiang Zhen had habitually ignored it.
"Yes, potatoes," Mrs. Wu calculated. "They seem quite large. The cook said they can be stewed with meat and easily steamed. If they can be grown, we can harvest three to five hundred kilograms a year, which is no worse than rice or wheat."
The climate in Guizhou is extreme, and the yields of wheat and rice here have never been very high. If there is a new food that can partially replace these two, and the yield is higher, then tens of thousands of people in Guizhou will be able to eat enough in winter.
The more Jiang Zhen listened, the brighter his eyes became. His mother had indeed made the right choice in marrying him a wife. "Then I'll go find Miss Song now!"
Mrs. Wu held him back and said speechlessly, "Why are you so anxious? Miss Song hasn't come back yet. Why don't you try to see if the potatoes she gave you are as delicious as I said."
Jiang Zhen was so anxious that he was so reckless. He slapped his head and nodded, "Okay! Then I'll try this potato and see how it tastes!"
Wu sighed and said to Deputy General Ji who was standing silently beside her, "Brother Ji, stay and try it too."
"Yes, yes, yes! Xiao Ji, you should stay tonight. We have stewed meat in the house. I guess you haven't eaten it for a long time." Jiang Zhen laughed.
Deputy General Xiao Ji... Captain, you can be more restrained.
Wu endured it and finally did not roll her eyes. Why did her mother match her with a warrior?
…
On this side, after leaving the city, Song Wan ate the first meal of wontons that Gu Yan had hurriedly cooked, and then used the excuse that he wanted to eat meat and quickly went into the nearby mountains and forests.
It's strange. The seasoning is obviously the same, but why is it that the wontons cooked by the old lady in the wonton shop are fresh and delicious, while the ones cooked by Gu Yan in a hurry are either mushy or taste weird.
Song Wan reluctantly ate a bowl of rice and then pushed the whole thing to Gu Yan to finish urgently. Before entering the mountain, she just gave him a piece of sesame cake to fill her stomach.
Gu Yan knew that her cooking skills were poor and she felt guilty, so when she entered the mountain, she naturally tried her best to hunt, hoping to restore her image in front of Song Wan.
But unfortunately, no matter how much prey he hunted this time, it would be of no avail. Song Wan did not go into the mountains mainly for meat.
This mountain stretches for hundreds of miles and is connected to the mountain they passed by when leaving Luzhou City.
Song Wan took the sack that had contained the silver and went running around. Gu Yan followed closely behind him. From time to time, he caught two or three pheasants and rabbits. He even hunted a wild deer. It was unknown what species it was. The deer's eyes were watery, so Gu Yan kept it alive.
He thought Song Wan might like it.
"Found it!" When Gu Yan's sack was almost full, Song Wan finally stopped going into the mountains. She squatted on the ground and poked with a stick. After confirming that it was what she was looking for, she turned back to look for the person who had been following her.
"Gu Yan is in a hurry! Come here quickly!" Song Wan called him, "Come and peel the potatoes!"
She had been thinking before, since there are potatoes on the top of the mountain, is it possible that there are also potatoes at the end of the mountain? As a result, she actually found them.
"Potatoes?" Gu Yan hurriedly tasted this thing and found it was indeed delicious. She didn't expect it to be available here as well.
Song Wan just casually dug a few times and estimated that the area was no less than the one she had encountered before. She didn't know whether it grew wild or someone lost the seeds in the mountains.
But now is not the time to think about these things. She should think about how to get them out. It is not enough for her and Gu Yanji to dig them out alone. She needs to call more people.
"Yes, let's dig a bag and take it back first." Song Wan thought about it and felt that after Jiang Zhen ate the potatoes she gave him, the bags of big, fat and soft potatoes at home would definitely not be kept.
Although these newly discovered ones are not as beautiful as the previous ones, they are better than nothing to eat.
"Awan, if we dig too much at one time, it might spoil easily. Maybe we can come back to dig it out after a while." Gu Yan suggested urgently.
"Who said I was going to eat them all?" Song Wan said as she filled the bag. "I'm going to dig them up and plant them so that I can have more potatoes than I can eat next year."
"Can this be planted?" Gu Yan's voice trembled a little anxiously.
Song Wan replied as a matter of course, "If it can't be planted, how does it grow?"
She suspected that Gu Yanji had gone stupid from eating so many wontons that he even forgot this common sense.
Gu Yanji was not stupid. He originally thought that these were no different from the wild vegetables grown in the mountains, and they all grew on their own.
"How do we grow this? Is it suitable for the changing climate in Guizhou? What's the yield?"
Song Wan had never planted anything either, but at the end of the world, no plants grew. In order to prevent future generations from forgetting the various technologies before the end of the world, the leaders of various bases and the executors of the national army would arrange an hour of video learning time every day, which included the method of growing potatoes.
"It's very simple. The climate in Guizhou is quite suitable. Just water it properly in the middle and it will be fine." Song Wan remembered that potatoes need to be planted in relatively fertile and soft soil, preferably with sand. Guizhou is a windy and sandy place, but the soil is still fertile. As long as the soil is well maintained in the later stage, the yield can reach at least two-thirds of that in later generations.
"But there are a lot of winds and sands in Qian, are potatoes really okay?" Gu Yan hurriedly expressed his concerns. It was because of this that Qian had a small harvest every year. In the past, if it were not for the annual subsidies from the imperial court, the people and army of Qian might not have been able to defend the city.
"Well, potatoes need sand." Although Song Wan had never actually used it, she still remembered the theoretical knowledge firmly. "When it sprouts, we can cut it into pieces according to the sprouts, bury the roots in the soil, water it on time, and wait for three months, and you will have a lot of potatoes."
Gu Yanji was suddenly speechless. He was wondering if Song Wan in front of him was sent by God to save them all.
"Are you stupid?" Song Wan looked at him strangely, then frowned, "Don't try to act stupid and lazy!"
Facing her skeptical look, Gu Yan couldn't help but laugh, "I'm not trying to be lazy. You sit down and rest, I'll take care of the rest."
Gu Yan quickly imitated her movements, squatted down, and used a thick branch to dig up the soil and dig out the potatoes buried inside.
The fresh potatoes were still covered with some wet mud and had an earthy smell. Gu Yanji didn't mind the dirt. He carefully removed the dirt for fear of breaking the skin. After cleaning them, he put them into a sack.
Song Wan didn't act pretentiously and quickly sat aside to rest, helping to watch the wild animals.
She had consumed a lot of mental energy in the past two days and got hungry faster than usual. After finishing a large pancake in half an hour, she was hungry again.
Fortunately, Gu Yan had baked an extra pancake in advance, wrapped it in layers of oil paper, and placed it against her chest. It was still warm when she took it out and ate it.
Song Wan ate bite by bite, and at the same time stared at the deer that Gu Yan had hurriedly hunted.
By the time Gu Yan had hurriedly packed a sack, Song Wan had already finished her pancakes and was touching the deer antlers.
After Gu Yan quickly tied the opening of the sack tightly with a rope, she saw this picture of harmonious coexistence.
The sharpness of the woman has diminished a lot. It seems that he made the right decision to keep this deer.
"Likely?" He pointed at the deer.
Song Wan nodded naturally, staring at Lu. "I like it."
The whole body of a deer is a treasure, who wouldn’t like it?
Perhaps it was the sharpness of its animal instinct that made the deer realize that the woman in front of it seemed very dangerous, even more dangerous than the man. However, it could not escape and could only tremble on the spot.
Gu Yanji wanted to say that if she liked him, she could go hunt another stag so that they could continue breeding in the future.
But before he could say anything, he saw the fawn, which was only a few months old, suddenly kneel down on the ground, as if kowtowing to Song Wan.
Gu Yan was anxious... If he remembered correctly, he didn't injure the deer's leg.
Song Wan was not surprised. After all, here, even people with profound internal skills could not withstand the strong pressure of her mental power.
I only heard her touch the deer's horns with a smile and say, "I will feed you until you are fat and strong when we get home."
Gu Yanji suddenly had an intuition that the reason she was willing to take the deer back and raise it was not because she liked raising it, but to fatten it up for delicious meat.
The deer, sensing danger, instinctively cried for help, but was eventually suppressed by Song Wan with force.
The little deer with no hope of survival...Women are indeed the most dangerous animals in the world, even scarier than tigers in the mountains!
…
In this way, Song Wan arrived home at dawn the next day with a sack of fresh potatoes, a cart of wild animals, and a live deer.
Qi got up early in the morning and stood at the door waiting. When she saw the familiar carriage coming towards the village, she hurriedly got up to greet it.
"Awan!"
"Mom, I'm back."
Song Wan jumped out of the car, walked quickly towards Qi and asked, "Mom, what do you want to eat in the morning?"
Gu Yan hurriedly ate up all the two hundred wontons on the way. She didn't eat much because he cooked them so badly.
Song Wan considers herself not a picky eater, but after trying several times, she still found it hard to swallow.
She asked about food as soon as she came back. If it happened in an ordinary family, she would definitely be scolded. However, Mrs. Qi felt that as long as her daughter was only thinking about what to eat, it proved that there was no danger on the road and she was not injured.
She would feel much more at ease with Awan like this.
Qi nodded hurriedly to Gu Yan, who got off the car later, and then turned her full attention to her daughter. She smiled and said, "On the day you left, an old cow died in the village, so I bought a few pounds and made some braised beef. I'll make you some braised beef noodles later."
In Dai Viet, cattle are used exclusively for plowing. Unless they die of old age or illness, they cannot be slaughtered at will.
So when Song Wan heard that there was beef noodles available, she ignored everything else and nodded repeatedly, "Okay! Okay!"
Among all the team members, Qi was the best to her and would prepare delicious food for her every day.
"Sister! You're back!" Half of a head appeared from behind the door in the middle of the right wing. It was the original owner's sister, Song Yue.
After no longer having to travel in exile, everyone in the family gained some weight, and the little girl was no exception.
Song Yue now wears a simple cotton dress with only two light blue hairbands on her head. Her cheeks are a lot fuller.
Song Wan felt itchy and decisively raised her hand to call her over.
When Song Yue heard her elder sister calling her, she ran over happily, slightly tilted her head, and looked at Song Wan with admiration.
Song Wan finally got her wish and touched her sister's little cheek, which was as tender as ever.
After touching her face, Song Wan searched her body and only took out half a half-eaten pancake.
She almost forgot that she had asked Song Qi and the others to bring back the snacks she bought in Xinzhou.
So she had to ask, "Would you like some sesame cakes?"
Song Yue took the cold pancake happily without hesitation and took a small bite. "Thank you, sister."
"It's cold." Song Wan frowned guiltily, "Why don't you not eat it?" Now she has enough money to eat hot pancakes, so she doesn't want the cold ones.
"Ayue thought it was delicious, just like the two rabbit legs that my sister secretly left behind that day." Song Yue blushed when she thought of the scene in the cave a month ago.
Her sister is the best sister in the world.
"Nonsense." Song Wan looked puzzled. "How can a sesame seed bun be as delicious as meat? You must be starving."
As Song Wan spoke, she was thinking about whether she should find a doctor to check the little girl's pulse.
Song Yue arched her eyebrows and smiled. Her elder sister must like her very much, otherwise she wouldn't make her happy like this.
"Where is Anan?" Song Wan couldn't figure out what the little girl was thinking, so she had to change the question.
"She's still sleeping. My sister-in-law said that Anan has been sleeping the most recently, like a little pig." When talking about her little niece, Song Yue had endless things to say. "Anan can eat and sleep well now. My sister-in-law seems to be afraid that Anan will become fat when she grows up."
"It's better to be a little fatter. They look cuter when they are fatter." Song Wan likes chubby babies and also hopes that this body can get a little fatter.
"Then A Yue should try to eat more in the future." From Song Wan's words, Song Yue sensed something, that is, her elder sister likes fat people.
"Great." Song Wan praised her attitude and pinched her face again.
Looking through Song Yue's deer eyes, Song Wan suddenly remembered the deer that stayed with Gu Yanji, so she said seriously, "I'll take you to see the deer. Its eyes are very similar to yours."
"Deer?" Song Yue's eyes lit up. It looked even more like a deer.
"Well, Gu Yanji caught it from the mountains!" Song Wan was quite proud when talking about this outstanding team member. When the deer is fatter, she will give him the first bite of roasted venison.
"Sister, I want to see it." Song Yue had never seen a live deer in her life.
As soon as Song Yue finished speaking, three heads popped up from the west wing. They were Song Yuan, Song Yao and Song Rui from the second room.
"You want to see it too?" Song Wan raised her eyebrows.
All three heads nodded in unison.
"Then let's go together." After Song Wan said this, she secretly thought that this deer might need to be fattened up a little more, otherwise it wouldn't be enough to eat.
…
At this moment, in the Gu family yard, the little deer who was surrounded by two little kids suddenly trembled twice.
Woo woo woo, it must be that woman who is plotting against it again!
Little Gu Chang ran around excitedly, and finally hugged his second uncle's legs, with a look of admiration on his face, "Second uncle! Second uncle! You are so awesome!"
Gu Yan hurriedly pulled him away without saying anything, "Little man, don't be so clingy."
Gu Chang uttered a lost 'oh', then turned around to hug his uncle who was a year younger than him, "Then let me hug you, Ayu!"
In fact, he wanted to hug the deer, but he didn't dare.
When Song Wan brought Song Yue over, they happened to see two little buns stuck together, and the boy she rescued was sitting in front of the main room door, staring at the two buns.
She glanced at him twice, not knowing what method Gu Yan used to speed up the process, but the boy's eyes finally lost the rebellious look that they had when they first met.
"They are all here." Song Wan walked in, followed by a bunch of radish heads of different sizes.
Gu Yanji didn't expect her to come so soon. The corners of his mouth curled up and he quickly walked to the door, "Are you here to pick up the deer?"
"Not really. A Yue and the others wanted to see the deer." Song Wan replied.
The two families have supported each other and it has not been easy along the way. Song Yue has long had no scruples in front of the Gu family. In addition, she is still young, so there is nothing she needs to be shy about.
Soon she took her two cousins and her younger cousin to see the deer. Her elder cousin was right, the deer's eyes looked very similar to hers.
"When are you going to make the move?" Gu Yan glanced anxiously at the group of children who loved deer very much. She wondered what expressions would they have if they knew that the deer was about to become their food.
"Let's raise it a little longer. It's too thin and won't get enough points." Song Wan naturally saw everyone's love for the deer. After struggling for a long time, she finally put her heart into it and said hesitantly.
Anyway, the deer is not very big and is very thin. Since they like it so much, it doesn’t matter if they keep it for a few more days.
Gu Yan pretended not to notice her hint of regret and asked with a chuckle, "Would you like to have breakfast here?"
Song Wan rarely refused, "My mother said she wanted to make braised beef noodles."
She had to go home with an empty stomach.
"Then come for dinner tomorrow?" Gu Yan was anxious and wanted to stay with her for a while longer to make his presence felt.
"Okay, I'll come tomorrow." It would be easy to hurt the relationship by easily refusing the sincere invitation of the outstanding team members. Besides, she had not yet eaten breakfast at Gu Yanji's house.
Gu Yan's calculations were good, but he forgot about an unexpected person, Jiang Zhen.
The man entered the village shortly after noon, disguised as the manager of a restaurant, and said he was there to collect prey.
It just so happened that Song Wan and Gu Yan hurried back and beat up a lot on the way, which made many neighbors envious.
Some people also came bravely and wanted to buy a pheasant to take home as a snack, but Song Wan sold it.
Pheasants are not as tender as domestic chickens, so they are much cheaper. For those who cannot afford domestic chickens and want to have some meat, wild pheasants are the best choice.
So when the manager of the restaurant in the city came to collect the wild animals, the surrounding neighbors did not doubt it. They just secretly sighed that the newcomer had some skills and was better than the hunter at the end of the village.
When Jiang Zhen came over, Song Wan had just finished eating beef noodles. Seeing that he looked anxious and even had sweat on his forehead, she guessed what he was going to ask.
"Are the potatoes delicious?" Song Wan asked straight to the point.
Jiang Zhen was secretly surprised that Miss Song had guessed his purpose. After he calmed down, he immediately bowed and said, "Miss Song, you have a keen eye. I am indeed here for this food called potatoes."
"Do you want to know how to grow potatoes? What's the yield per mu? Is Guizhou suitable for growing potatoes?" Song Wan said what was in his heart.
"Since Miss Song knew it, why didn't she say a word before?" Jiang Zhen was puzzled. She could have told him directly when she gave him potatoes that day.
"Of course, you have to try something to know if it's delicious." Song Wan firmly believes this.
Jiang Zhen...what he said seems to make sense.
To be fair, if I had told him that night, I would definitely not have trusted him wholeheartedly.
But after tasting the deliciousness of potatoes, he would find ways to plant some even though Guizhou was not suitable for growing them.
You can just treat it as a normal dish and eat it at home.
"Gu Yan and I were on our way back and found quite a few more in the mountains. I asked him to leave a mark. You can take people to dig them up later. Remember not to break the skin, as you need to save them for planting."
"Really?" Jiang Zhen was instantly excited. He wondered if God saw that he was about to die in Guizhou, so he sent Miss Song to save the people and soldiers in this city.
The author has something to say:
It's time to plant the potatoes! Watch A-Wan lead everyone towards prosperity and get some free food while you're there!
P.S. I got all the steps for planting potatoes from Baidu. If there are any mistakes, please point them out gently.
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