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After clearing the table, Ye Caiping washed up and went to bed.
Before sleeping, she opened her space again.
She tried trading and upgrading again, but the results were still unsatisfactory.
Ye Caiping used the manual detection function, and surprisingly, it still worked.
After a day of busy work, she calmed down.
The space shouldn’t be broken, but to upgrade it, maybe some kind of opportunity is needed.
Ye Caiping let out a long sigh, deciding to go with the flow!
If there’s fate, the opportunity will naturally appear. Even if she can’t find the opportunity, as long as the manual detection function is intact, she’s still in profit.
The next morning, the men all went out to work.
Du Shi and Wei Shi took Jinhua and Yinhua to the river to wash clothes.
Ye Caiping, the young woman, cleaned the stone mill at the kitchen entrance.
“What are you doing?” Yan Fang watched curiously from the side.
“Grinding spices.”
Ye Caiping finished speaking and asked Jin’er and her sister to bring out bags of spices from the room.
Yan Fang flipped through them, her eyes wide with astonishment: “So many herbs? Did you buy them yesterday? Is someone feeling unwell?”
“Nothing’s wrong, these are for making seasoning. Last night I said I wanted to do a small business, and I need to use these things.”
Yan Fang was puzzled, how could food making involve herbs? And she didn’t recognize any of them.
She didn’t say much, just helped Ye Caiping with the work.
Ye Caiping started by grinding peppercorns.
After two quarters of an hour, she had ground out a jar.
The remaining spices were mixed together and ground, and because of the large quantity, she took turns with Jin’er and her sister and Yan Fang.
By noon, the spices were all ground.
Ye Caiping divided the spice powder into two jars and locked them in her room.
Ye Jin’er asked, “Mother, when will we go set up a stall?”
“In four days, at least after Double Ninth Festival. By then, our household chores will be finished.”
Ye Jin’er nodded with a smile, her face full of anticipation.
Since leaving the Li family, her mother had become increasingly mature and reliable. No matter what her mother said or did, she and her sister would believe and support her.
Lunch was made by Yan Fang.
There was still half a basin of oil residue (Cracklings) left from last night. Yan Fang only scooped out a bowl, chopped it finely, and fried it with vegetables. The food was brown rice porridge and cassava.
Although it wasn’t as rich as last night, with the oil and brown rice porridge, the Ye family members still ate with happy faces.
After lunch, Ye Lizheng came over: “Caiping, today is the seventh day, can the cassava in the river be brought ashore?”
“Yes, we’ll bring it ashore tomorrow morning. Also, there’s still a few catties of fresh cassava left in the village, We must have people peel them and chop them into 5-inch pieces, soak them in the river!”
“Alright!”
Ye Lizheng then called a village meeting.
Upon hearing that the cassava would be brought ashore, the villagers were all excited.
The next morning, the villagers gathered by the river.
Under Ye Lizheng’s direction, the men pulled basket after basket of cassava out of the water.
Ye Caiping took this opportunity to use the system for detection. After seven days of soaking, the toxins had indeed been removed!
Next, the villagers used carts to transport the cassava to the entrance of the Ye family’s ancestral hall.
Since the Ye family ancestral hall was the largest, the entrance was paved with bluestone slabs.
The villagers dumped all the cassava onto the floor and took out two large scales used for weighing grain from the village.
Looking at so much cassava, the villagers excitedly began to discuss it.
Ye Lizheng said, “Let’s let these cassava dry a bit, and once the water has mostly evaporated, we can weigh them. In the meantime, let’s learn another processing method for cassava from Caiping.”
Ye Caiping said, “There are two ways to eat cassava: drying it and eating it fresh. The drying method has already been learned; you slice it and soak it in water for seven days. After dividing the cassava, everyone can dry their own at home. Whenever you want to eat it, just soak it and steam it until it’s cooked.”
“The other method is to eat it fresh. After digging out the cassava, cut it into small pieces and soak it for a day and a night, boiling it several times with fresh water.”
As she spoke, she took the fresh cassava that Ye Lizheng had soaked yesterday and set up a stove on-site with the aunts, teaching everyone the method of boiling and changing the water three times.
The boiled cassava was cut into small pieces for everyone to taste.
“After so long, we finally get to eat; it tastes so good!”
“It’s even better than brown rice!”
Those who managed to get a small piece felt satisfied, while those who didn’t were anxiously scratching their heads.
Ye Caiping looked at their excited faces and raised her voice:
“I’ll give everyone a few more points to note. First, fresh cassava can only be stored for about half a month; it should be eaten as soon as possible after being dug up. Second, the method of slicing, soaking for seven days, and then drying it is the safest, with a lower chance of poisoning.”
“Third, we’ve already taught you the methods. Let me say this upfront: if any steps are done incorrectly or if someone gets lazy and tries to cut corners leading to poisoning, it won’t be our responsibility.”
The villagers were stunned for a moment, then nodded in agreement: “Understood.”
The cassava water on the ground had almost dried up. Ye Lizheng asked everyone to put the cassava back into baskets and then weigh them.
Ye Lizheng announced, “After calculation, we can each get 32 jin of cassava, and children under 12 years old will get half, 16 jin!”
As soon as he said this, the villagers erupted in cheers and excitement, quickly calculating how many people were in their families and how much cassava they would get.
“Everyone line up. Adults go to the Bajin to register, and children under 12 go to Daquan and register. Erquan, Sanquan, Zhuzi, and Tie Niu, you are in charge of weighing.”
The villagers were in a commotion, about to start lining up, when a deep voice rang out:
“Lizheng, before we line up, can I say something?”
Ye Caiping looked over and saw a man in his thirties with a scruffy beard. She had a vague memory of him, but couldn’t recall his name.
“What is it, Decai? Go ahead,” said Ye Lizheng.
Liu Decai stepped forward, followed by ten or so men and women.
He said, “We’re about to divide the cassava, but there are some things we need to clarify.”
“The Ye Daquan family has already dug up a lot of cassava before this. We all saw them carrying basket after basket back to their house that day!”
A woman behind him said, “It looked like over a thousand jin!”
Liu Decai continued, “That cassava, it all belongs to everyone, but they dug up so much beforehand. Just now, Uncle Lizheng said everyone gets 32 jin, but they’ve already got over 60 jin per person on average from what they dug up before!”
“We won’t dwell on that. But now we’re about to divide the cassava, everyone, tell me, should they get another share?”
As soon as he said this, the villagers all looked at each other in bewilderment.
Some had never considered this issue, while others had already thought about it and had some reservations. Now that Liu Decai had brought it up, they started muttering amongst themselves:
“The Daquan family has fourteen people, so that means they’ll get over three hundred jin.”
“They already dug up over a thousand jin before, and now they want another share…”
“If it wasn’t for them telling us how to remove the toxins, we wouldn’t have gotten a single jin. It’s fine if they get another share!”
“I also think they should get another share.”
“But they took over a thousand jin beforehand… We didn’t make them give it back, but if they get another share…”
Ye Lizheng was so angry that his chest heaved.
Yan Fang’s face was ugly, and Ye Daquan and the others were about to start cursing. There was definitely not a thousand jin; it was only a little over eight hundred jin!
Ye Caiping sneered.
At this moment, Old Man Ye looked at her questioningly. Ye Caiping nodded, and Old Man Ye stepped forward with a dark face:
“Everyone, when we decided to share the method with everyone, our family never intended to take even half a liang more! We are all neighbors. My Caiping said we can’t keep it all to ourselves; we have to tell everyone!”
“After telling everyone, we were worried that everyone would dig up all the cassava, so all the men in our family went to the mountain to dig together. Caiping personally taught everyone how to cut and soak it, working hard for the sake of the village.”
“Listen! Listen!” Ye Lizheng stepped forward and rebuked the villagers. “Furthermore, the things on the mountain don’t belong to everyone; they’re unclaimed! Teaching everyone the detoxification method was a kindness, not an obligation.”
“They didn’t keep it a secret and told us the method. And you dare to bite back? Are you even human?”
“Even if the Daquan family gets another share, on average, we’d only get one or two liang less. Will we starve to death from missing a single bite? And they never even thought of getting another share!”
The villagers felt ashamed, especially those who had questioned them.
Yes! The things on the mountain were originally unclaimed, and they were so generous, yet they dared to pick on them—that’s just inhuman.
Note:
Characters
Other Characters:
Heigou – Ate poisonous roots
Heigou’s mother
Doctor Zhao
Zhao Facai – Neighbor
Village Head Ye- Sometime Ye Lizheng (Lizheng is a title that refers to Village Head/Chief)
Ye Bajin – Village Head’s Son
Fubao – Village Head’s Grandson
Tie Niu and Zhuzi – two women who helped Caiping
Ye Bajin – Son of Ye Lijeng
Liu Decai
Places:
Qinghe Village: FL’s Village
Li Family Village
Great Zhou Dynasty