Chapter 19: The Hope of the Whole Village

When Li Zheng saw Ye Xin Ran holding a bowl, he thought her family had run out of food, so he asked, “Didn’t Xiao Huai’an leave enough grain for you when he left?”

Ye Xin Ran quickly replied, “No, we still have food at home. I came to see you today for something else.”

“Then come in, don’t just stand at the door.”

Ye Xin Ran walked into the yard, and Chang An and Yu Feng had already run to the corner of the wall, chattering and playing together.

“Not asking for grain, then is there some other trouble?” Li Zheng asked, completely forgetting the scolding he had just received from his wife.

Ye Xin Ran handed him the bowl she was holding, “I found this up in the mountains and brought it for you to try.”

“Oh?” Li Zheng was greatly surprised.

This year had been tough, and out of the more than 200 families in the village, not a single one had come to bring food for them.

Yet, it was the outsider, the Xiao family, who had come first to offer food.

Li Zheng looked at the contents of the bowl. It was a yellowish-white food cut into pieces that resembled sweet potato slices, but was different from them.

“What is this?” Li Zheng picked up a piece to examine it, and Ye Xin Ran explained, “It’s the root of kudzu vine, and it can be eaten raw. You should try it.”

“This can be eaten?” Li Zheng was quite surprised.

He knew about kudzu vines, sometimes, when the baskets at home broke, they would go up the mountain to cut some of the vines to weave into new baskets. But he had never heard that the root could be eaten.

He placed the kudzu root in his mouth, chewed it, and was surprised to find it crunchy and even a little sweet.

“Mmm, it’s quite good!”

He put a whole piece of kudzu root in his mouth, a pleased expression on his face.

“With this, we’ve found another source of food. Huai’an’s wife, you’ve really done a great favor. I’m going to tell everyone, and next time we’re up in the mountains, we’ll dig up the roots of the kudzu vines to eat.”

“Li Zheng, it’s not just later, we need to go up the mountain and dig now.”

“What do you mean?” Li Zheng asked, looking puzzled.

“Yesterday, I found a large patch of kudzu vines on the mountain. There must be several acres of it, so I came to tell you, so we can go up together and dig it.”

“Several acres? That much? I’ve never seen it before!” Li Zheng was a bit incredulous.

He may not know much about other things, but when it came to the village and the surrounding mountains, no one knew more than him. A large patch of kudzu vines should have left an impression on him.

“It’s on Mi Lu Mountain,” Ye Xin Ran said. “I heard from Brother Zhang that the villagers don’t often go up there.”

“Mi Lu Mountain!” Li Zheng finally understood why he hadn’t seen it.

Mi Lu Mountain was located between Yun Bian Village and Dong Gou Village. The mountain was often shrouded in mist, and it was said that there were strange creatures living in it. Several villagers had gone missing there years ago, and since then, people rarely ventured up that mountain.

Later, people had even heard wolves howling at the foot of the mountain, and that only made everyone more reluctant to enter the mountain.

“Chang Sheng is really bold, to dare go into Mi Lu Mountain. What if something happened to him?” Li Zheng immediately reacted.

“But at least, if it weren’t for this, we wouldn’t have discovered this valuable resource. Huai’an’s wife, are you sure there’s really that much kudzu root on the mountain?”

“Absolutely!” Ye Xin Ran affirmed. “And when I went up the mountain earlier, I encountered a few women. They seemed to be from the neighboring village. Even though it’s not the season for digging kudzu root, if we don’t do it now, other villages might beat us to it.”

“That’s for sure!” As soon as Li Zheng heard that others had also discovered the kudzu root, he immediately became anxious.

“I’ll gather the villagers right away. This afternoon, we’ll go dig it up. With this good stuff, our village won’t have to worry about hunger anymore!”

Li Zheng happily went inside to look for the gong.

Li Zheng’s wife had been secretly listening to the conversation from the back room. Hearing the news, she became excited and rushed out to ask, “Huai’an’s wife, is what you said true?”

“Could it be fake?” Ye Xin Ran handed her a piece of kudzu root to try. “I saw that life’s been hard for everyone, and since this good thing’s been found, I came to tell Li Zheng.”

“Oh my, this is great!” Li Shi said with joy. “Our Yun Bian Village is really striking it rich now.”

“Dang dang dang!” After three loud gong strikes, the villagers gradually gathered at Li Zheng’s door.

“Li Zheng, what’s going on?”

“Yeah, why the gong? I was out weeding in the fields and heard it, so I rushed over.”

“Don’t tell me there’s another tax increase? If that’s the case, life will really be unbearable.”

Seeing that enough people had gathered, Li Zheng loudly announced, “Quiet, everyone, quiet down!”

The crowd immediately fell silent.

Li Zheng then spoke, “I’ve called you all here for good news! Just now, Xiao Huai’an’s wife told me that she found food up on the mountain. There are several acres of kudzu root on Mi Lu Mountain. Everyone, stop whatever you’re doing, and everyone who can work, old and young, come with me to the mountain to dig up the kudzu root.”

“Li Zheng, can that thing really be eaten?” A villager raised a doubt.

“That’s right, Li Zheng, we’ve lived here for generations. If it could be eaten, we’d have discovered it long ago. Why wait until now?”

“Why wouldn’t it be edible? I just tasted it myself! It’s sweet and crunchy, like sweet potatoes,” Li Zheng waved his hand, quieting the murmurs in the crowd.

“As you just said, we’ve all lived here for generations. None of us have even been to the capital city, we’re like frogs in a well, narrow-minded, so it’s not surprising we didn’t know this root could be eaten.”

“Now, Huai’an’s wife has kindly told us about this edible food. Think about it, how much rice is left in your granaries? How much money do you have to buy more grain? In Yun Bian Village, no one should starve to death! Anyone who can walk, follow me up the mountain.”

Though the villagers had doubts, since Li Zheng had said so, no one dared to stay behind.

If they went and the kudzu root turned out to be bad or non existent, at most, they’d have wasted half a day.

But if they didn’t go, and when neighboring villages had food while their own families didn’t, there would be no one to blame but themselves.

“Li Zheng, does that mean whatever we dig up, we can keep for ourselves?” someone asked.

“Yes, everything you dig up is yours, but each family will need to contribute 2 pounds, which will be stored in our village’s public warehouse.”

“Alright, we’ll follow Li Zheng’s lead.”

The villagers went back home to get their tools, and Ye Xin Ran also went back to bring Chang An with her. She asked Chang Ping to come along as well.

Chang Sheng, feeling guilty, wanted to go too, but Ye Xin Ran quickly stopped him, “It’s fine, your foot isn’t healed yet. Stay home and wait for our good news.”

She and Chang Ping each carried a basket, took a machete and a hoe, and joined the majority of the village as they headed towards Mi Lu Mountain.