Chapter 177: These Aren’t Potatoes, These Are Golden Nuggets
“Oh, careful, Second Brother! Slow down! You snapped it! You snapped it right in half!”
“What are you doing? What are you doing? You stepped on one and crushed it!”
Looking at Old Man Wen’s frantic anxiety, one would think he wanted to kick everyone out so he could dig every single one up himself. Even though Wen Xiuyi kept telling him from the side that it didn’t matter if they got nicked because they were still perfectly edible, the old man stubbornly refused to listen.
Wen Xiuyi could only drop the matter. Looking at the piles of potatoes and sweet potatoes, he couldn’t help but wonder if the old man would still treasure them like absolute prizes down the line, when they had so many that there was nowhere left to store them and they had no choice but to use them as pig feed.
“What brought you two here?” Old Man Wen turned around and spotted the Luo sisters standing next to the filled bags with Wen Yao, each holding a potato in their hands.
Old Madam Luo set the potato down and said, “Yao’er mentioned that the potatoes and sweet potatoes were being dug up in the fields, so we came to take a look.”
The younger Old Madam Luo couldn’t bring herself to put hers down, her face radiant with pure joy. “Big Sister, Brother-in-law, can this thing really be eaten as a proper meal?”
Old Man Wen had always known how deeply his wife doted on this younger sister, so he pointed toward a filled bag nearby. “Have Xiuzhu cart this bag back with you when he takes you home tonight so you can give it a taste. Oh, right, as for how to cook it, you’ll have to ask Yao’er.”
Wen Yao shrugged. “You can eat them just about any way you like! You can just boil them in water until they’re cooked through and eat them straight, or you can stir-fry them, stew them, roast them, or fry them.”
Just thinking about it made her mouth water.
Wen Yao sidled up to Old Man Wen and grinned. “Granddad, how about we start a campfire and roast a few to taste?”
Old Man Wen was just about to snap and say there would be no eating, that every single one had to be saved for seed, but looking at the massive plot that hadn’t even been harvested yet and the substantial piles already stacked up here, he swallowed his words after all. He nodded and said, “That mouth of yours—there isn’t a single day it stays still.”
He then instructed Lu He to go over to the duck pens and fetch a bundle of firewood.
Despite the sweltering weather, they actually started a campfire right in the middle of the field. Wen Yao picked out a dozen or so that were roughly equal in size and tossed them straight into the burning wood pile.
“That’s all it takes?” The few people standing nearby looked on, half-doubting.
Wen Yao sat cross-legged on the ground, occasionally turning them with a stick as she nodded. “Yep. Just wait until they’re done, then you can eat.”
Before long, the group caught a distinct aroma wafting from the firewood pile, though it was still quite faint.
Very quickly, Wen Yao used her stick to roll a blackened ball out from the embers.
“Second Uncle Lu, quick, the winnowing basket! Fetch the basket!” Wen Yao shouted while continuing to rake more out of the fire.
Lu He wasn’t afraid of the heat either. He snatched them up and tossed them into the basket, then began shaking it continuously just as Wen Yao had instructed. In no time, the blackened soot fell away, revealing the charred, golden-brown skin beneath.
“Grandmother, you taste one first. Sss, it’s scorching! Hot, hot, hot!” Wen Yao took one of the cleaned potatoes to hand to Old Madam Luo, but it was so hot she kept tossing it from her left hand to her right.
Distressed, Old Madam Luo hurriedly snatched it from her, shoved it into her sister’s hands, and grabbed Wen Yao’s hands to check them.
“Did you burn yourself? You wretched girl, it just came right out of the fire and you grasped it with your bare hands! Just how thick is that skin of yours? Quick, let me look. Did you burn yourself? Hurry home and get some ointment to rub on it.”
Feeling the old lady’s deep concern, Wen Yao simply grinned, shook her hands out, and said, “Grandmother, I’m fine, this is nothing. It didn’t burn me at all. Hurry up and try one, they’re all ready.”
Wen Yao had tossed dozens in all at once earlier, and Lu He had cleaned them all up by now, leaving them sitting in the winnowing basket to cool slightly.
“Granddad, they’re ready to eat! They’re cooked through!” Wen Yao quickly called out to the crowd in the field.
Aside from the Wen family, no one had ever eaten this thing before, so they all just stood there watching.
Wen Xiuyi stepped forward, picked one up, and took a direct bite. The skin was charred, crisp, and fragrant, while the inside was soft, fluffy, and starchy.
“Delicious.” He had only ever eaten roasted potatoes like this back when he used to go down to the countryside to teach villagers how to farm. Taking a bite now truly made him feel as though a whole lifetime had passed.
Old Madam Luo insisted that the younger Old Madam Luo eat the one Wen Yao had handed over, while she picked up another one herself and began to munch on it. Everyone else looked toward Old Man Wen; after all, if Old Man Wen didn’t give the word, none of the remaining workers would dare to eat.
“Stop staring at me, go ahead and eat.” Following Old Man Wen’s command, the men working in the fields swarmed forward, each grabbing one and learning to mimic their movements to eat.
“Big Brother, Sister-in-law, this is truly delicious, absolutely delicious.” Second Uncle Wen was the first whose eyes began to well with tears.
Old Man Wang and the others felt exactly the same. After eating just one, they actually felt half-full.
The members of Lu Feng’s family also held one each, taking small, quiet bites, their eyes growing redder the more they ate.
Old Man Wen let out a sigh, knowing exactly what was going through their minds. Their entire family had participated in harvesting these potatoes, and they could see the sheer volume of the yield with their own eyes. Tasting it now undoubtedly brought back memories of the hardships from their past.
Old Man Wen patted Lu Feng’s shoulder. “Alright, it’s all in the past. From now on, just work hard. Our old Wen family can’t promise grand things, but we guarantee we will never let you go hungry alongside us again.”
Hearing those words, Lu Feng burst into loud tears, sinking straight to his knees on the ground. “Old Master, I’m just happy! I’m just so happy! Waaah…”
“Oh dear, look at you, why are you doing this again? Hurry up and get up, so many people are watching! Hurry up.” Old Man Wen flusteredly scrambled to pull the man back to his feet.
Old Madam Luo couldn’t be bothered to watch a bunch of grown men weep and sniffle. She turned to her sister. “Are you full? If not, have another one. Yao’er, fetch another one for your great-aunt.”
“Coming right up!”
The younger Old Madam Luo quickly stopped Wen Yao. “Enough, enough! Just this one makes me full, I might not even be able to eat dinner. Sister, this truly is a wondrous item.”
It tasted good, staved off hunger, and crucially, the yield was incredibly high—far higher than wheat.
Seeing that she wasn’t exaggerating—since she herself felt full after eating just one—Old Madam Luo agreed that this thing truly filled the belly.
“We’re saving the seeds for you. I heard from Eldest that after the wheat is harvested, another crop can be planted. When the time comes, clear out the fields at your house, and I’ll have Eldest bring his brothers over to help you out,” Old Madam Luo said.
Deeply grateful, the younger Old Madam Luo’s eyes grew slightly red. She took Old Madam Luo’s hand and said filled with emotion, “Sister, it’s a blessing that you think of me in everything.”
“I only have you as a sister, if I don’t think of you, who else would I think of? Alright, we’ve seen it and we’ve eaten, let’s head back. I can’t bear to look at the state of them,” Old Madam Luo said, casting a thoroughly disdainful glance at Old Man Wen and the other men.
The two ladies asked Wen Yao if she was leaving, but Wen Yao waved her hand. “Grandmother, I’m not going back yet. Go ahead and tend to your tasks, I still have other matters to look after.”
The two elders didn’t mind her. They wrapped two more potatoes in a handkerchief to take back for Jiang Yueniang to taste. As for their two daughters-in-law, they could just call out to them when they passed the duck pens later and let them come over themselves.
Once the two old ladies departed and the others finished eating and drinking their fill, everyone threw themselves right back into the harvest. This time, their drive was even greater than before, and every single person’s movements became exceedingly careful and gentle, without Old Man Wen needing to utter another word of reminder.
These weren’t mere potatoes; these were practically golden nuggets.
