Divorced woman with child travels through time

Chen Wenfang processed that small pot of dried sweet potatoes exceptionally well, steaming and sun-drying it three times. She didn't dry it too much, so the small pot only yielded about ten pounds. Ever since they started making the dried sweet potatoes, Shi Tou and Chen Xuanyu haven't stopped eating them. They'd eat one here today, one there tomorrow, running back and forth between Chen Wenfang's house and Aunt Liu's house, eating and eating.

After drying, the two families weighed their sweet potatoes. After deducting the amount consumed by a few people, Chen Wenfang collected about 50 jin (25 kg) of sweet potatoes. Aunt Liu's side dried the sweet potatoes more thoroughly, and after processing about 700 jin (350 catties) of sweet potatoes, she collected about 300 jin (150 kg) of dried sweet potatoes.

After the start of autumn, the plants began to wither and their leaves became dry, making it the perfect time for harvesting. Chen Wenfang has been extremely busy lately, leading Chen Xuanyu and Shitou in a frenzy of mugwort picking. Under Chen Wenfang's guidance, the two little ones have actually come to recognize mugwort. Two days before the market day, Chen Wenfang had already collected three large bags of mugwort, which she then hung on the wall of the side room for storage.

On market day, Chen Wenfang, Aunt Liu, and the others took the children to the market together. Uncle Liu Hai brought a full 150 jin of sweet potato chips that had been carefully cut into small pieces, as well as more than 20 jin of fresh, sweet sweet potatoes that had been air-dried. Chen Wenfang brought 5 jin of sweet potato chips to give to Ouyang, 3 jin of dandelion, and 5 jin of selfheal. She kept only about 20 chrysanthemums for herself to drink.

The market was as bustling as ever. Chen Wenfang, who hadn't been there in a long time and was a celebrity, greeted everyone as soon as she arrived. After greeting everyone, she set up her stall. As usual, Uncle Liu Hai took out a handful of dried sweet potatoes and shared them with the vendors next to him. He kept reminding them, "These are dried sweet potatoes, they're quite hard, but they keep well. If you have bad teeth, chew on them for a while until they soften before eating." As he distributed them, he added, "Be careful, I'm not responsible if you get a toothache." "Here, Grandma, enjoy yours slowly."

With so many people, each person could only get a few pieces. Just then, Old Fang, who was selling vegetables at a nearby stall, noticed the commotion. He curiously came over and asked, "Hey! Is this made from the sweet potatoes you grew? How was the sweet potato harvest? Are they easy to grow? How many kilograms did you harvest?"

Mentioning this, Uncle Liu Hai became proud, ran a hand through his hair, puffed out his chest, and said, "Guess how much I harvested from one acre of land?"

Looking at Uncle Liu Hai's braid that was almost sticking up to the sky, Old Fang asked doubtfully, "Could it be four hundred pounds?"

Uncle Liu gave him a disdainful look and said, "You underestimate me too much."

Old Fang exclaimed in surprise, "Could it be 500 jin? That's great! Even though it's not very palatable, it's worth the money to grow!"

Uncle Liu looked at him and said, "You, you, let me tell you, I'm not bragging, but my farming skills are second to none. You know what I mean?" He then gestured with his hand as if he were a gun.

Old Fang's eyes widened in surprise. The people around them were astonished by their boasting. The sudden pause caused a two-second silence. Old Fang grabbed Uncle Liu Hai and asked, "Really eight hundred jin??? You're not lying to me?"

Uncle Liu Hai pulled his hand away and said, "We've known each other for so many years, why would I lie to you? Look at my dried sweet potatoes, there are 120 jin here alone, and I have more at home. Besides, you know I bought sweet potato seeds, do you think I conjured them up?"

Old Fang finally believed it and muttered to himself, "Eight hundred catties! If we plant this, we'll never have to worry about food again."

After saying that, he turned to Uncle Liu Hai and said, "Weigh out three catties of raw fruit for me, I'll keep it for next year as seed."

Uncle Liu Hai laughed at him again, saying, "If you're just using them for seed, don't buy them. They'll still grow next year. If you don't know how to preserve them, they'll spoil next year. If you're just using them for seed, buy them next year." Old Fang nodded and asked, "How much are these dried sweet potatoes per pound?"

Uncle Liu Hai looked at Chen Wenfang, who replied, "Ten coins a pound." Old Fang said, "That's a bit expensive. A pound of flour is only ten coins."

Chen Wenfang laughed, "It takes two pounds of sweet potatoes to make one pound of dried sweet potatoes, plus the effort of cooking and drying them thoroughly. If stored properly, they can last for half a year. They can be eaten as a snack for a long time." Everyone nodded and discussed, "They are indeed not expensive."

Old Fang said to Uncle Liu Hai, "We're so familiar with each other, give me a discount, weigh it out to one pound, and I'll give you the vegetables for free."

Chen Wenfang smiled but didn't say anything. Uncle Liu Hai laughed and said, "Alright, alright, we're all acquaintances, I'll give you eight coins."

Old Fang laughed, "Sure, sure." Uncle Liu Hai gave him a generous amount of weight, and Old Fang didn't even bother with the paper wrapping; he simply put it into his cloth bag. He munched on a dried sweet potato and said, "This tastes pretty good. It's quite sweet and chewy."

Seeing this, everyone started buying a pound or half a pound. Sales were very good. Chen Wenfang's herbs also sold well.

Many people say they relied on this herbal tea to beat the summer heat, and it was mostly people who did hard labor who bought one or two packets. Chen Wenfang's herbs are washed very clean, and you can eat them directly after steeping them in water. Although they might irritate the throat, poor families don't waste anything, so there are quite a few repeat customers.

Seeing that this method worked, Uncle Liu Hai had Shi Tou stand by the stall with a bag of dried sweet potatoes, giving one to everyone he met and calling out, "Delicious and inexpensive dried sweet potatoes, ten yuan a pound, they can be stored for half a year if they don't get wet!"

Stone, bold and shameless, started shouting at the top of his lungs. Chen Xuanyu found it amusing and joined in, but he didn't shout. He just asked people, "Want to try some?" If someone answered, he would give it to them; if not, he would ask someone else.

Chen Wenfang and Aunt Liu watched the child laughing behind them, but it was good that way; boys should be a little thick-skinned.

After distributing about a pound of goods, Chen Wenfang estimated that Uncle Liu Hai had sold about 80% of his stock by the end of the morning.