Dressed as a top-notch girl, leading the whole village to become rich

"Yes, but you can't eat snails. They can easily make you sick. I'll pick some lotus flowers for you."

"Uh." As a modern person who has eaten snail noodles, especially one who still can't get enough, it's really hard for her to refuse this natural delicacy.

"Ah Cheng, help me pick some snails first. I know how to cook them and I guarantee they'll be edible."

Ye Cheng was about to refuse when he heard Ye Guo's eyes shining and speaking to him with trust.

"Ah Cheng, I haven't eaten meat for a long time. Snail meat is also meat! Small ones are fine. I'm not picky. You can just help touch it a little, okay?"

Ye Guo clasped her hands together. If she knew how to swim, she would have jumped into the water two hundred years earlier.

"Then I'll pick a few big lotus leaves first."

When Ye Guo heard that there was something interesting going on, he thought of stir-fried snail meat with cucumber, loofah and bitter gourd, and couldn't help swallowing his saliva.

Ye Guo was young and strong, and he was a good worker. Normally, no one wanted the snails here, but he grabbed a handful and soon filled two lotus leaves.

Ye Guo knew that this was the stuff that Master Luo had, and the contents were very little. If conditions allowed, she would have wanted to make a fire on the spot, cook it, and take only the meat back.

Looking at the two baskets, one large and one small, on the ground, Ye Guo commanded without hesitation, "Ah Cheng, go pick a few more lotus leaves for me."

Ye Guo first covered the small backpack with lotus leaves, and then used the ant moving method. After a while, the small backpack was filled with snails of all sizes.

To Ye Guo's surprise, Ye Cheng later touched the clam shell, which had more meat.

Ye Guo picked out some of the small snails without hesitation, threw them back into the reservoir, and replaced them with large clam shells.

While Ye Cheng was touching the clam shells, he did not let go of the lotus flowers he saw.

Seeing this, Ye Guo hurriedly stopped him and said, "Ah Cheng, there are enough lotus flowers, don't pick them. Do you see the lotus pods next to them? The ones that look like funnels and have round seeds inside."

"The ripe ones have turned black, and the dark green ones are also ripe."

"Aunt, grandma specifically told you before she came that this thing cannot be eaten." Ye Cheng said helplessly.

But who is Ye Guo? As soon as she saw the lotus pods that no one had picked, she wanted to pick them all home.

If snails were not considered meat and could provide nourishment to the family, she would have asked him to pick lotus pods long ago.

"Then I won't eat them. You pick them for me to play with. I want them all."

"If you don't pick it, I'll go down by myself."

After saying that, he started to roll up his trouser legs. The way he did it made Ye Cheng's eyelids twitch.

"No, no, no, aunt, I'll pick it. Can't I pick it? Don't move. I'll pick it right away."

Ye Cheng was really scared because Ye Guo's body had not yet fully recovered.

The water in this valley was icy cold even on a hot day. If she went into the water, she would probably die.

Ye Guo was completely unaware of Ye Cheng's worries. When she heard him give in, she stopped thinking about anything else. "Look at the color of the lotus pods. Black or dark green will do. Just pick the big ones. Don't pick the small ones yet. They are probably not ripe yet."

Lotus seeds are also commonly called lotus rice. They are a must-have in eight-treasure porridge and have a very high starch content.

For the Ye family, it is life-saving food.

Ye Cheng frowned and picked the fruits while guarding the leaves and fruits closely.

Fortunately, Ye Guo was focused on storing food and didn't think about eating at all.

She left a path of about thirty centimeters for the lotus pods and did not put them in the big backpack. Instead, she found some spear grass around and tied them up in bunches to make it easier to take them out later.

Although Ye Cheng saw it, he didn't ask anything.

He was the oldest among the younger generation and was a quiet person by nature. He basically never spoke to his younger siblings and Ye Guo except to ensure their safety.

If my sister-in-law wants the snails, then let her do it. It's just a waste of effort. When we get home, other people will definitely not let her eat whatever she wants.

Ye Guo only saw Ye Cheng busy working, and had no idea that Ye Cheng was treating her like a child and was still thinking about the main event of this trip.

Seeing that there were so many lotus pods that two people couldn't hold them all, he turned his eyes to the lotus leaves that were not blooming and curled up, and his eyes were full of envy.

"Acheng, are you good at swimming?" Regardless of anything else, since there is a river in Yejia Village, this must be good.

Ye Cheng had no doubts. "Don't worry, Xiaomu, Xiaolu and the others were taught to swim by me. Do you want to eat fish?"

Leaves, fruits, fish, I want to eat.

But let's get down to business first. "It's OK as long as you are good at swimming. Look, the ones that are rolled up are the tips of lotus leaves that have not been opened. Below the tip of the lotus leaf, if you follow the stem down to the bottom, there are lotus roots in the mud, which are round and strong, with sections one by one."

Ye Cheng, I didn’t expect this kind of development... I feel like I’m going to get beaten today.

"Ah Cheng, is there?"

"Yes." Although Ye Cheng didn't understand, he wanted to refuse. But habit made him move faster than his brain, and his mouth spoke even faster.

"It's not very strong, but it has sections."

"Great." Ye Guo couldn't help but jump up and down on the spot. "Ah Cheng, pull it out. Use more force. It doesn't matter if it breaks."

Ye Guo pulled it out with great effort, and it was so easy that he almost fell into the water.

It's not that hard at all.

Ye Cheng stood still again and discovered that the color under the tip of the lotus leaf was not green, but white.

He washed the mud off it and then handed it to Ye Guo.

"Here, what you want."

Ye Guo looked at the three or four white lotus root tips that were not yet fully ripe, feeling a little disappointed but not surprised.

Sure enough, July is not the season for lotus roots.

But she also breathed a sigh of relief.

These are all starches, which are the things that can really make people full.

"Crunch." Just when Ye Cheng felt that he had completed his task for today and was washing his legs to get ready to go ashore, he stared in amazement as Su Guo took a bite of the tip of the lotus root.

Chewed it, and then swallowed it.

Ye Cheng felt like he was going crazy, his eyes turned red with anxiety.

In a few strides, she walked from the water to Ye Guo's side, snatched the lotus root tip, and raised her voice angrily, "Aunt, do you want to die? How dare you put anything in your mouth?"

After saying that, he tried to make Ye Guo spit out what he had eaten.

How could Ye Guo let him succeed? He dodged and shouted, "Ah Cheng, this is lotus root tip. It's not poisonous. You can eat it."

“Rice?” People who don’t have enough food are always particularly sensitive to this word, but they can’t believe it at all. “If it’s edible, how come other people don’t know about it? Do you think I’m a three-year-old child?”

There are many people in the village who cannot get enough food. Even the head of the village, who lives in the only large blue brick and tile house in the village, cannot eat plain rice every meal.

Even the wild vegetables in the village are barely enough to eat because they are abundant in this season.

Ye Guo didn't care about being told, and replied with a smile, "I heard it from the peddler in the village. I didn't think of it before, but I've been too hungry lately, and I always can't eat enough. I dream of having a full meal. When I saw you doing farm work with lotus leaves on your back, I remembered it."

"The peddler said lotus roots usually mature in September or October, and when they grow up they are as thick as an arm. But there are already some as early as July. These are white and small, and they are not yet mature. They are called lotus root tips, and can be eaten raw or cooked."

Ye Cheng heard Ye Guo's words and they sounded very convincing, but he couldn't believe it at all.

But the family was too poor and everyone was always hungry.

He thought that his aunt had already eaten it, so he opened his mouth and took a bite of the tip of the lotus root.

Mm, crunchy and sweet, quite delicious. I finished it in a few bites.

"I'll eat it first. She'll be fine after an hour. You can eat later." Ye Cheng said without hesitation. He thought that if it was poisonous, the young aunt would only take one bite, so she could still be saved.

As a person with an adult soul, Ye Guo understood Ye Cheng's actions after a little thought.

It's true that I'm not touched, but since I've already eaten, I'd better not waste time and pick more while the weather is not too hot, otherwise it will be noon.