Chapter 18: Discovery of Kudzu

Leaving the area, Ye Xin Ran walked a bit further along the path where the two women had come down from. Sure enough, she found a large patch of kudzu vines.

Kudzu vines are strong and can be used to weave baskets, but it was clear from the two women’s behavior that they didn’t know that kudzu root could also be eaten.

This patch of kudzu covered an area of more than ten square meters, and the roots alone could yield over a thousand Yin (about 500 kg).

With a thousand Yin of kudzu root, there was no need to worry about hunger, right?

She absolutely couldn’t let someone else get to it first.

With her decision made, Ye Xin Ran dug up a small section of kudzu root from the edge and then headed back down the mountain.

When she returned home, Chang Ping and Chang An immediately came up to greet her, looking at the robes in her basket with curiosity.

“Aunt, where did these come from? The clothes look so nice,” Chang An said.

“I saved someone who had fallen into a trap on the mountain just now. That person didn’t have any money, so they gave me their outer robe as a thank you. I thought the clothes looked good, so I brought them back to alter them for your brother,” Ye Xin Ran explained.

“That’s great!” Chang An’s eyes sparkled as he gently stroked the soft fabric. “Big Brother will finally have nice clothes to wear. I’ll take them to show him.”

Chang Sheng was in his room studying when he saw Chang An rush in with the pile of clothes. As he stepped over the threshold, he almost tripped on the falling sleeves but quickly rushed over to help him.

“What’s the rush?” Chang Sheng scolded.

“Big Brother, look! Aunt brought you back some beautiful clothes. You can wear them to school from now on.”

Chang Sheng took a closer look at the clothes in his hands.

The fabric was indeed of high quality, and even the embroidery had been carefully crafted.

However, Chang Sheng couldn’t shake a sense of familiarity, as though he had seen them somewhere before.

“These clothes are too nice. I’ll feel uncomfortable wearing them. Why don’t we sell them for money and buy some grain instead?” Chang Sheng suggested.

His words were overheard by Ye Xin Ran, who had just walked over.

Ye Xin Ran thought he had a point.

Given their current financial situation, one nice outfit wouldn’t do much, so she said, “Alright, I’ll sell the clothes and use the money to buy new clothes for the three of you.”

“Wow, thank you, Aunt!” Chang An clapped his hands excitedly. He had never had new clothes, so when Ye Xin Ran mentioned getting new ones, he was thrilled.

“Aunt, just buy new clothes for the little ones. This outfit of mine is still fine,” Chang Sheng said, hiding the hole in his coat behind his back.

“You’re a scholar, so you still need to maintain some dignity. I’m not someone who doesn’t know how to plan. I’ll make sure to get new clothes for all of you,” Ye Xin Ran replied.

“But Aunt,” Chang Sheng still had an odd feeling, “Did the person who gave you the clothes tell you who they were? I feel like I’ve seen them before.”

“Hmm!” Ye Xin Ran cleared her throat. It wasn’t that she didn’t ask, it’s just that the person hadn’t had the chance to tell her who they were.

“They were just a passer by,” she answered. “Since you don’t want to wear them, I’ll put the clothes away for now and sell them the next time we go to the country.”

Along with the hairpin and the jade pendant.

Ye Xin Ran didn’t say this part aloud.

She took the clothes to her room, casually tossing them aside, and began to examine the Ice Spirit Flowers she had collected.

The space couldn’t bring things inside, so even if she had the Ice Spirit Flowers, how could she make the medicine?

Ye Xin Ran was troubled when she suddenly noticed that the Ice Spirit Flowers in her hands had disappeared. They had all appeared in her spatial storage.

It turned out that it wasn’t that the space couldn’t store items, but rather that it couldn’t store irrelevant things.

“This makes things easier!”

Ye Xin Ran was thrilled. She placed all three Ice Spirit Flowers into the space, then found the other herbs from the warehouse according to the recipe. After mixing them, one Ice Spirit Flower remained. Ye Xin Ran placed the remaining flower into the cold storage room, started the machinery, and the system displayed that it would take half a month for the finished product.

She exited the space and looked at the small piece of kudzu root in her basket, deep in thought.

There was no way her family could finish such a large amount of kudzu root. Moreover, judging from today’s situation, if those women found out that kudzu root could be eaten, they would soon be up the mountain to dig it up.

She needed to act quickly.

With that thought, she went outside, washed the kudzu root clean, peeled it, and cut it into small pieces before placing it into a bowl.

“Chang An, take me to the Li Zheng’s house. I need to talk to him,” she said.

“Alright! I also want to see Sister Yu Feng.”

Chang An grabbed Ye Xin Ran’s hand and skipped toward Li Zheng’s house. Along the way, he greeted everyone he saw, calling out “Uncle” and “Aunt,” and the villagers cheerfully called out to Chang An. When they looked up and saw Ye Xin Ran, they awkwardly turned away, pretending not to notice her.

Their actions were awkward, as if they wanted to approach but also keep their distance.

Ye Xin Ran didn’t take it to heart and simply followed Chang An to Li Zheng’s house.

Li Zheng’s house was at the far east of the village. It had five mud-brick rooms and a yard that was more than twice the size of the Xiao family’s.

As soon as Ye Xin Ran arrived at the door, she heard a woman’s voice coming from inside: “Every day, all you do is give away the family’s food. Everyone knows you’re the Li Zheng, but if they didn’t know, they’d think you were the village’s mud Buddha!”

Just as the voice faded, Li Zheng’s calm voice came from inside: “Oh, these younger generations in the village, who isn’t related to us? As the elder, how can I just watch them sell their children and do nothing?”

“That’s only if your family is prosperous,” the woman replied, “Our porridge is so thin it’s like you can see your reflection in it. You can bear it, but my Yu Feng is still growing. She’s getting thinner and thinner, and you, as her grandfather, should feel sorry for her!”

“Mother, father is only trying to help. I’ll go up the mountain tomorrow to see if I can find any wild fruits to bring back for Yu Feng,” Li Zheng’s son comforted.

“Alright, alright, you two are the good people, and I’m the bad one. I’m selfish, I don’t care about the younger generation…” Li Zheng’s wife, Madam Li, became more and more agitated. Ye Xin Ran felt embarrassed, standing at the door unsure whether to go in or not.

Yu Feng ran out of the house, saw Chang An, and waved for him to come inside, whispering, “Grandma is throwing a tantrum again!”

“Aren’t you scared?” Chang An asked, blinking.

“I’m not scared. Grandma just has a bad temper. After she scolds us, she forgets about it,” Yu Feng replied.

As they were talking, Madam Li came out of the house. Seeing Ye Xin Ran and Chang An, she turned away and walked back inside, speaking to Li Zheng in an irritated tone: “Another beggar at the door. I’ll see what you can use to pity others. Maybe you should just cut my throat and take food out of my stomach!”

Li Zheng, feeling guilty, didn’t argue back but instead cheerfully walked out of the house. When he saw it was Ye Xin Ran, he was momentarily stunned.

“Wife of Huai’an, what brings you here?”