bayedsolid Chapter 180 Digging sweet potatoes
Chapter 180 Digging sweet potatoes
"Thank you, sir. Now I'll trouble Captain Yan." After expressing his gratitude, Shen Wanning left the county government office.
Lin Jingyou continued to stay in the county town to study, and only Shen Wanning, Captain Yan, and another constable named Zhao returned to Daqing Village together.
As soon as she returned home, Shen Wanning picked up a hoe and walked towards the sweet potato field.
"You just came back, why don't you take a rest? What are you doing carrying a hoe? There are two officials here, you should at least invite them to have a cup of tea, right?" Aunt Zhang looked puzzled and raised her head to look at Shen Wanning.
Shen Wanning turned around and said to the two detectives, "Brother Yan, have some tea first. I'm going to go check out the sweet potato field. It rained yesterday, so it's a good time to dig sweet potatoes now. I'll go and take a look."
"Oh, we are going to dig sweet potatoes! Why didn't you tell me earlier? I would have asked the eldest brother to do it. How can you do this job with your thin arms and legs?" Aunt Zhang said, and went to the kitchen, asked Xu to serve tea, and prepared to go to the top of the mountain to call Lin Jingce back.
Shen Wanning held Aunt Zhang, "Oh, Mom, no need. I won't dig much. I just want to dig a few and see."
Captain Yan walked over and said, "I'll go dig with Miss Wan Ning, and take a look at the sweet potato field while I'm there."
Aunt Zhang glanced at Captain Yan with a bit of caution and said enthusiastically, "How can we let you two gentlemen do such rough work? Please take a seat and have a cup of tea. I'll accompany Wan Ning."
As she said that, Aunt Zhang pulled Shen Wanning directly to the sweet potato field.
On the way, Shen Wan Ning was still muttering, "Mom, why did you follow me? It's just a matter of a few hoes, it's quick, just dig a few out and show them to them."
"I just came here to see how to dig sweet potatoes. I'll learn from you, and then we'll dig them ourselves later." Aunt Zhang made up a lame excuse.
Shen Wanning didn't care. She followed what the netizens in the live broadcast room said and first found the roots of the sweet potatoes and dug down along the roots.
Because she was worried about breaking the sweet potatoes, she dug them carefully, bit by bit.
Soon, she dug out a sweet potato. Aunt Zhang didn't mind the dirt, so she took it in her hand and wiped it with her hand.
"Wow, it looks quite similar to cassava, no wonder they are both called potatoes. But the skin of this sweet potato is red, so it is called sweet potato. It is thicker than cassava, but shorter than cassava." Aunt Zhang carefully observed the sweet potato in her hand.
"Yes, Mom, I think these sweet potatoes should be almost ripe. We planted them early, so the others will probably have to wait about a month." Shen Wanning continued with her hands, digging and replying.
"Hey, let me do it, let me do it. I'm familiar with digging cassava. Digging sweet potatoes is the same as digging cassava." Aunt Zhang grabbed the hoe, and in a short while, she dug two big sweet potatoes.
One of them weighs three or four pounds and looks like a round pumpkin.
"Oh my goodness, this sweet potato is so big! Two of them are enough for our family to have a meal." Aunt Zhang said, holding the big sweet potato.
"Yes, mother, let's take it out and let everyone see it. We can also gather some people to help dig it. We only have one acre of land, so we estimate that we can finish digging it in a few days."
Shen Wanning took two smaller sweet potatoes, and Aunt Zhang carried a big sweet potato and a hoe, and they walked into the yard together.
Lin Jingce just came back from the top of the mountain. Seeing what the two were holding, he quickly stepped forward, took the hoe from Aunt Zhang, and asked, "What are Mother and Wan Ning holding?"
Constable Yan and Constable Zhao stood up and looked at the sweet potatoes in their hands. "Is this what they call a sweet potato? How could it grow this big?"
"Yes, we just dug a few randomly. After dinner, we will hire some people to help us dig. It will take only a few days to finish digging. Then we can weigh them to see how many sweet potatoes can be produced per acre of land." Aunt Zhang replied.
"Hey, Mom, for lunch later, cut these sweet potatoes into pieces and steam them with rice so that everyone can taste the sweet potatoes together."
"Can this sweet potato be eaten directly without soaking in water?" Lin Dashan walked over and asked, pointing at the sweet potato.
Shen Wanning thought for a moment, "Not only can these sweet potatoes be eaten steamed, they can also be eaten raw. They don't have much water, but they're filling. How about this: we cut these two small ones into pieces, and let's all try them raw first."
As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Jingce took the three sweet potatoes, washed them by the well, and then took two small sweet potatoes to the kitchen, peeled them, and cut them into pieces.
Shen Wanning took everyone to sit on the benches in the yard and wait.
Lin Jingce put small pieces of sweet potatoes in a small bowl and brought out the sweet potatoes.
"Dad, Mom, Brother Yan, please try it." Shen Wanning stretched out her hand and made an inviting gesture.
Aunt Zhang reached out first, picked up a small piece of sweet potato and put it directly into her mouth. "Let me try it first. You can eat it after it's not poisonous."
Of course, she believed in Shen Wanning. After all, Shen Wanning's decisions had never been wrong for so long.
"It has little juice, is sweet, and a bit hard. People with bad teeth can't eat it. But overall, it should be quite filling." Aunt Zhang commented after eating a piece.
Constable Yan and Lin Dashan both reached out and took out a piece of bread and put it in their mouths. Then, Shen Wanning, Constable Zhao, and Lin Jingce also took a piece of bread and put it in their mouths.
Their evaluation was similar to Aunt Zhang's: it was edible raw, but not particularly delicious. Lin Jingce personally liked the taste, so he ate a few more pieces.
Xu came back from outside with the washed clothes and saw them eating around the table. She put down her basin and came over.
"Mom, what are you eating?" His eyes were fixed on the sweet potatoes on the table without blinking.
"You have sharp eyes. Nothing we can hide from you about food! Eat it! These are the sweet potatoes we just dug up. Try them." Aunt Zhang said, pointing at the sweet potatoes.
"Okay, let me try it too." After saying that, Xu wiped her hands on her clothes, picked up a piece of sweet potato and put it in her mouth.
"It tastes weird and not particularly delicious. But it's not terrible either, it's okay." After saying that, Xu picked up another piece of sweet potato and started eating.
Remembering that Wen was still in the room taking care of the child, Aunt Zhang said, "Go get two pieces for Wen to try."
Xu responded, sent a few sweet potatoes to Wen's room, and came out to hang up the clothes.
While Xu was busy in the kitchen, Lin Jingce helped peel the largest sweet potato and cut it into small pieces. When steaming rice, he put the sweet potato pieces on top of the rice.
While waiting for lunch, Shen Wanning and Aunt Zhang took two constables to the sweet potato field, and they dug up some sweet potatoes.
Captain Yan sighed, "We've only dug such a small area, and we've already found so many sweet potatoes. It seems that an acre of land can really yield at least a thousand kilograms of sweet potatoes!"