diskusbooks Chapter 29: Making sure everyone has enough to eat
Chapter 29: Making sure everyone has enough to eat
"Uncle Village Chief, are you home?" Wen Luozhi knocked on the door and called out as she arrived at the village chief's courtyard.
A moment later, the village chief's wife opened the courtyard gate. When she saw Wen Luozhi, she shrank back, but when she saw Xie He smiling beside her, she barely relaxed.
"Girl, what do you need from my old man?" She opened the courtyard gate and invited the two of them into the house.
"It's nothing serious, Aunt Wu. My daughter just wanted to ask for a bowl of goat's milk. She heard your ewe had given birth, so she came looking for us." Xie He took the water from the village chief's wife and then said to Wen Luozhi, "Girl, quickly bring the things over."
Wen Luozhi took the items out of the basket and placed them on the table. Xie He smiled and said, "Aunt Wu, we're not taking them for nothing. We're exchanging these with you, and also to thank the village chief for taking care of our family."
Xie He spoke sincerely. When they broke off their kinship and later had conflicts with the people in the old house, the village chief helped them a lot. People should know how to be grateful.
The village chief's wife was shocked to see so much meat and snacks on the table. She glanced at the mother and daughter and scolded them, "A bowl of goat's milk isn't worth that much! I'll just give it to you for free! Why bring it over when you're struggling financially? You should keep it for Luo'er to help her recover."
"The old man is the village chief; it's only right that he takes care of you."
She refused to accept it no matter what, and in the end, it was only after Wen Luozhi persuaded her with a lot of sweet talk that she finally nodded.
After the village chief's wife returned from milking the goats, the three of them sat down and chatted for a while.
"Aunt Wu, what's the village chief up to? He hasn't come back yet," Xie He asked.
They've been sitting here for half an hour already. With the sun so strong outside, how could they possibly stay like that for so long? I hope they don't get heatstroke!
The village chief's wife sighed and said, "You know that family at the end of the village, right?"
Xie He nodded. Wasn't the Sun family's house at the end of the village? She remembered that the Sun family had a large population, with four boys and two girls. So many children to support, but only two elderly people worked themselves to the bone, and even so, the family still couldn't get enough to eat.
Not just the Sun family, most families in the village are like that.
“Old Sun’s wife starved to death! The old man went there to help with the funeral arrangements!” The village chief’s wife said, tears welling up in her eyes, feeling guilty.
If she had just helped look after things a little more, things wouldn't have turned out this way.
Wen Luozhi was stunned. She only knew that most families in the village were struggling to make ends meet, but she never imagined that someone would starve to death.
Although she was an orphan, at least she had enough to eat and had never seen anyone starve to death, so she felt a sense of sorrow for a moment.
Xie He hadn't expected this to happen, and she offered a few words of comfort to the village chief's wife.
Suddenly, she felt her sleeve being tugged. She turned around and was startled to see that her youngest daughter's face looked unwell.
"What's wrong, my dear? Are you feeling unwell?" she asked anxiously, pulling Wen Luozhi along to find Doctor Hu.
Wen Luozhi shook her head and stopped her, asking, "Mother, how many potato seeds do we have left?"
Xie He immediately understood what her daughter was up to. She patted Wen Luozhi's head and whispered, "Enough."
Wen Luozhi then smiled and gestured for her to tell the village chief's wife.
"Aunt Wu, when the village chief comes back in a little while, could you please ask him to come to our house? Tell him we have a way to feed everyone in the village." Xie He pulled the village chief's wife's hand and patted it. Before she could react, she took her daughter's hand and left the house.
The village chief's wife only came to her senses when she heard the courtyard gate close. She muttered Xie He's words to herself, looking somewhat dazed.
On the way back, both of them felt heavy-hearted. The feeling of being hungry was unpleasant, let alone starving to death.
Once they arrived at their doorstep, the two composed themselves before pushing open the gate and going inside.
Wen Luozhi first poured the large bowl of goat milk into a pot, added a few almonds, and boiled it before scooping it out.
Thinking that goat milk was a good thing, she took a few small bowls, divided them into several portions, and then called the three children and the wolf into the kitchen to drink.
The three children sat neatly on low stools, drinking, while the little wolf drank on the ground, wagging its tail happily. The scene looked incredibly harmonious, and Wen Luozhi was greatly healed by it.
After finishing some chores around the house, Wen Luozhi took out the seeds she had received yesterday.
She took two bowls, poured the seeds into them to soak, and planned to start planting the seedlings the next morning.
"Girl, what kind of seed is this?" Xie He asked Wen Luozhi curiously, having never seen such a strange seed before.
Wenluo pointed to the sky and whispered, "This big one is called a cucumber; it's long and thin when ripe. This small, flat one is called a tomato; it's round and red when ripe."
"They are all vegetables, but they can all be eaten raw like fruit, and they can be grown year-round."
"Most importantly..."
She glanced around mysteriously and continued, "Most importantly, they can be sold for lots and lots of silver!"
Cucumbers and tomatoes are not available here, and besides, the products produced by the system are definitely not ordinary. As they say, things are valued for their rarity, and she is sure she can sell them for a good price!
She has decided to target the wealthy people in the city. Cucumbers and tomatoes can be used to make many kinds of dishes. Even if she supplies restaurants exclusively in the future, she will still make a profit!
She's determined to work hard and earn lots of money! She'll never let her family starve!
……
The village chief arrived just as dusk was falling. When he saw Wen Muchuan, he stepped forward, grabbed his hand tightly, and asked with trembling lips, "Brother Wen, is that really true?"
Wen Muchuan nodded. When he came back, the child's mother told him everything. Although this idea was a bit risky, how would he know if he didn't try?
He pulled the village chief into the house, where the whole family was already sitting and waiting for the two of them.
After the village chief sat down, Wen Muchuan went straight to the point: "Village chief, a few days ago we found potatoes on the mountain, the same potatoes that caused the villagers to get poisoned after eating them."
"It has a high yield per acre, is drought-resistant, and is very filling."
"If everyone plants now, there will definitely be no problem having enough to eat by the time of the autumn harvest."
The village chief shook his head repeatedly, looking horrified. "No way! That stuff is poisonous and can't be eaten! Why bother planting it!"
Wen Luozhi had already thought of this problem. She separated the raw, normal potatoes, the sprouted and green potatoes, and the steamed potatoes and put them into a winnowing basket, then handed it to Wen Muchuan.
Wen Muchuan took the potatoes one by one and began to talk to the village chief about them.
"Is what Brother Wen said true? Did you really eat it?" The village chief was skeptical, after all, it concerned the entire village, so he had to be extremely cautious.
Wen Muchuan nodded to him and said, "We ate these a few days ago. They were potatoes that hadn't sprouted or turned green." As he spoke, he picked up a cooked potato, peeled it, and started eating.
The village chief believed him. If the stuff was poisonous, then the family must have been poisoned and had called a doctor. But he didn't listen to anything the villagers said.
The potatoes were still hot and fragrant. He reached out, picked one up, peeled it, and took a bite. The contents were soft, chewy, and slightly sweet.
He looked at Wen Muchuan with surprise, then ate the remaining two bites and took several more.
After finishing those potatoes, he stopped reaching for more, because he clearly felt bloated and didn't want to eat anymore.
With tears welling in his eyes, he looked at Wen Muchuan's family and said in a choked voice, "Good! Good! Tomorrow we'll gather the whole village to discuss this!"
"Our Shanquan Village is saved!" The village chief's emotions were suddenly stirred up, and tears streamed down his face.
With one worry gone, Wen Luozhi felt much more relaxed. If the potatoes didn't grow well, she would use her points to exchange for things in the system and try every means to make them grow well!
After Wen Zi'an escorted the village chief home, Xie He poured out the coins she had earned from selling food that day, just like she had the night before.
In the end, they calculated that they had made a net profit of half a tael of silver today! The whole family was naturally overjoyed.
Remembering Yan Che's suggestion, Wen Luozhi mentioned setting up a stall near the academy. The whole family raised their hands in agreement, and even the little wolf happily spun around at her feet.
After discussing it among themselves, the family decided to set up their stall for a few more days to earn enough money to set up a large stall near the academy.
Thinking that she would get tired of the food they were selling now, Wen Luozhi finished tidying up and went to bed to think about what new products to launch.
Because her stall is too small and the conditions are not good enough, she can't think of anything else that would be suitable to sell.
"My brilliant system, what do you think we should sell given our current situation?" She tossed and turned in bed, not expecting the system to answer her, after all, it was just a robot that was messing with her...
[Foolish host, you can make delicious human food that doesn't need insulation: cold skin noodles, cold noodles, ice jelly, and cold rice cakes. I hope you'll work hard to get rich and help this system level up quickly.]
Upon hearing the mechanical sound, Wen Luozhi suddenly sat up in bed. She hadn't expected that the system would be useful at such a crucial moment!
Yeah! When it's hot, just eat something cool; there's no need to go to great lengths to keep it warm.
Moreover, these things have very low costs, so the profit margin is even greater!
Wen Luozhi lay back on the bed and closed her eyes. She decided to try making liangpi (cold skin noodles) tomorrow.