The little ancestor of the family

Seeing Ye Xinran holding a bowl in her hand, the village head thought that her family had run out of food, so he took the initiative to ask, "Did Xiao Huaian not leave enough food for you when he left?"

Ye Xinran quickly said, "No, I still have food at home. I came to see the village head today for something else."

"Then come in quickly, don't stand at the door."

When Ye Xinran walked into the yard, Chang'an and Yufeng had already run to the corner, chattering and playing together.

"Why don't you lend me the grain? Are you in trouble?" the head of the village asked again, completely forgetting that he had just been scolded by his wife.

Ye Xinran held the bowl forward and said, "I found this on the mountain and brought it here for Uncle Village Chief to try."

"Oh?" The village head was very surprised.

This year has been a bad year. None of the more than 200 households in the village has ever brought me food.

Instead, it was the outsider from the Xiao family who came to bring food to him first.

He looked into the bowl and saw yellow and white food cut into pieces. It looked a bit like sweet potato chips, but different from them.

"What is this?" The village head picked up a piece and looked at it carefully. Ye Xinran also explained to him: "It is the root of Kudzu vine. It can be eaten raw. Uncle village head, try it."

"Can this thing be eaten?" The village head was very surprised.

He knew about kudzu vines. Sometimes when the baskets at home broke, he would go to the mountains to cut some and make baskets. However, he had never heard that the roots of this thing could be eaten.

He put the piece of Pueraria root into his mouth and chewed it. It tasted crisp and even a little sweet.

“Mm, it’s delicious!”

He put a whole piece of Pueraria root into his mouth and a look of joy appeared on his face.

"With this thing, we can dig up one more kind of food. Huai'an wife, you have been a great help. I will tell everyone that if you see kudzu vines in the mountains in the future, dig up the roots and eat them."

"Uncle Lizheng, this is not the future. We have to go to the mountain to dig now."

"What's going on?" The head of the village looked confused.

"Yesterday I saw a large patch of kudzu vines on the mountain. It must have covered at least a few acres of land. That's why I came to tell the village head uncle and brought everyone to dig together."

"Several acres of land? So many? Why haven't I seen this before?" The village head couldn't believe it.

He may not understand other things very well, but when it comes to what is in the village and the mountains surrounding the village, no one knows it better than him.

He would definitely have an impression of such a large area of ​​kudzu vines.

"It's in Milu Mountain." Ye Xinran said, "I heard from Brother Zhang that people in the village rarely go to that mountain."

"Milu Mountain!" Now he knew why he hadn't seen it.

The Milu Mountain is between Yunbian Village and Donggou Village. The mountain is often shrouded in fog. It is said that there are monsters in the mountain. In the early years, several villagers disappeared in the mountain. Since then, few people go to that mountain.

Later, someone heard the howling of wolves at the foot of the mountain, and no one dared to go into the mountain anymore.

"Changsheng is so bold that he actually dares to go into Milu Mountain. What if something goes wrong?"

The village head responded immediately, "It's a relief that we found this treasure. Otherwise, we wouldn't have found it. Huai'an wife, do you think there are really that many kudzu roots on the mountain?"

"It's absolutely true!" Ye Xinran said, "And when I went up the mountain just now, I met a few women. They seemed to be from the next village. Although now is not the time to dig kudzu root, if we don't dig it, it might be dug away by other villages."

"Of course not!" When he heard that someone else had also discovered Pueraria lobata, the head of the village immediately became anxious.

"I will gather the villagers and we will go digging this afternoon. With this good stuff, no one in our village will starve to death!"

The village chief happily went into the house to look for the gong.

The village head's wife had been secretly listening to the two people's conversation in the back room. She also became excited when she heard the last part. She ran out from the back and asked, "Huai'an wife, is what you said true?"

"How could it be fake?" Ye Xinran asked the village head's wife to taste a piece as well. "I saw that everyone's life was not easy, so I came to tell the village head uncle when I got this good thing."

"Oh, that's great." Li was delighted. "Our Yunbian Village is so lucky."

"Ding ding ding!" After three gong sounds, the villagers gathered one after another at the door of the village head's house.

"Uncle Lizheng, what happened?"

"Yes, why is the gong being struck? I was weeding in the field, and when I heard the gong I hurried over."

"Could it be that the government has increased taxes again? If that's the case, life will be really unbearable."

The village head saw that most people had arrived and shouted, "Quiet, everyone, be quiet."

Everyone shut up.

The head of the village then said, "It is a good thing to gather everyone here today!

Just now, Xiao Huaian's wife told me that she found food in the mountains. There are several acres of kudzu root on Milu Mountain. You all should put aside your work. All the young and old in the village, as long as you can work, follow me up the mountain to dig kudzu root."

"Uncle Lizheng, can that thing really be eaten?"

Some villagers raised questions.

"That's right, Uncle Village Chief. We have lived here for generations. If that thing is edible, we would have discovered it long ago. Why would we have to wait until now?"

"Why can't we eat it? I just tasted it! It tastes sweet, almost like sweet potato." The head of the village waved his hand to suppress the doubts in the crowd.

"You just said that we have lived here for generations. No one in the village, including myself, has even been to the capital. We are so narrow-minded and short-sighted that it is normal for us not to know that this thing can be eaten."

"Now the Huai'an wife has been so kind to tell us about this edible thing. Think about it yourself, how much rice is left in your rice jar? How much more food can you buy with your family's money? In my Yunbian Village, we want people to die of exhaustion but not starvation. Those who can walk, follow me up the mountain."

Although everyone had doubts in their hearts, since the head of the village said so, no one dared not to go.

If I go there and it doesn't taste good or is unavailable, it would be at most a waste of half a day.

If you don't go, when your neighbors have food at home, you won't have any at home. Then you will regret it and have no place to cry.

"Uncle Village Head, does that mean whatever you dig up will belong to you?" someone asked.

"Yes, everything you dig belongs to you. When the time comes, each family will hand in 2 kilograms, which will be placed in the public warehouse in our village."

"Okay, I'll listen to Uncle Lizheng."

The villagers all went home to get their things. Ye Xinran also took Chang'an home and asked Changping to go up the mountain with her.

Changsheng felt very sorry and struggled to go, but Ye Xinran quickly stopped him and said, "Okay, your foot isn't healed yet, so stay home and wait for our good news."

She and Changping each carried a backpack, a machete and a hoe, and followed the large group from Yunbian Village towards Milu Mountain.