Tian Jing didn't care about this little craft. If they wanted to learn, so be it, it wasn't a real secret recipe.
"It's fine, I'm not relying on it to get rich. I learned it from others, so just learn casually. It's just that these kudzu roots will be unlucky. If everyone only digs and doesn't plant, they will become fewer and fewer in the future."
"That makes sense. How should this be planted?"
Sister-in-law Niu knew that if there were no more kudzu roots, even if she learned the craft, it would be useless.
"The pods on the kudzu vine are the seeds. When they mature, you can save the seeds," Tian Jing said, continuing to chop.
"You say, if I get some seeds and plant them by the courtyard wall, is that okay?"
"You have to try everything to know. I also want to plant pumpkins. Don't rush off later, watch me plant pumpkins."
Tian Jing didn't intend to hoard her knowledge. She shared her methods, and if Kūshān changed for the better, it would be the fault of others if it didn't. She considered herself selfless.
"Alright, alright, thank you. Zheng Guojiang, I have a lot of vegetable seeds at home. Tell me what you want."
Sister-in-law Niu's only way to repay was to offer vegetable seeds. The vegetables grown in Kūshān couldn't be used for seeds, so her vegetable seeds were all saved by her parents.
"Sister-in-law Niu, my name is Tian Jing. Just call me by my name. Calling me Zheng Guojiang makes me feel a bit uncomfortable."
Tian Jing really wasn't used to such an address. Every time, she had to pause in her mind before she understood that Sister-in-law Niu was calling her.
"Then I'll call you Tian Jing. Tian Jing, don't be polite with me. Just tell me what seeds you want. If I don't have them, I'll have my parents send them, or I'll bring them back when I visit my parents in the first lunar month. I'm not being polite."
Sister-in-law Niu also wanted to pass on the craft she learned to her family, so asking for vegetable seeds for Tian Jing was definitely not a problem. Soudan Novels.
"I'll try planting pumpkins first. If it's successful, I'll see what seeds you have at your place, okay?"
Tian Jing didn't refuse Sister-in-law Niu's enthusiasm. For her, a single seed could yield thousands.
"Okay," Sister-in-law Niu was very happy to be able to reciprocate. "Oh dear, I forgot to tell you something. You live at the end of the village, you probably don't know yet?"
"Zhang Fangcao had a miscarriage. Her mother pushed her, and she fell. She's already a mother, she didn't even know she was pregnant..."
Sister-in-law Niu chattered on for quite a while, and what made her happiest was Zhang's mother's unreasonable excuses.
Tian Jing inexplicably thought of yesterday. Yesterday, after Li Zheng'guo pulled Zhang Fangcao out, he pushed her towards that distant aunt. Although she looked fierce, the force was such that neither she nor her daughter-in-law would fall.
Was it because she didn't want Zhang Fangcao to be harmed? Tian Jing didn't believe this herself.
Did she know that Zhang Fangcao was pregnant? This seemed even less believable, right? Right?
Tian Jing looked at Li Zheng'guo, who was carrying a stone mortar as large as a washbasin, and the doubts in her mind disappeared after a circle. They had agreed to have their own space.
Li Zheng'guo placed the stone mortar at the door and asked Tian Jing, "Are you going to pound these kudzu root stems?"
"Yes, but you don't need to pound them. Go make wooden boxes. After I finish these, I'll plant pumpkins."
Tian Jing didn't plan to ask Li Zheng'guo for help. With Sister-in-law Niu and Li Min here, it was right for them to get their hands dirty if they wanted to learn the craft.
"We're here," Sister-in-law Niu patted her chest. "Brother Zheng'guo, go ahead and do your work."
"Okay," Li Zheng'guo went out to borrow tools.
Tian Jing, along with Sister-in-law Niu and Li Min, began to pound the chopped kudzu root stems into a paste, scooping it into a bucket, and continuing.
Li Zheng'guo returned with the borrowed tools and worked by the roadside opposite the Li family's house to avoid dusting their ingredients with dust and wood shavings.
After pounding all the kudzu stems, they scooped water into the bucket, stirred it into a slurry, placed a sieve over another bucket, lined it with a flour bag that Li's mother had kept, and began to filter.
Sister-in-law Niu, being strong, squeezed the filtered residue a few times. When she confirmed that the residue was quite dry, she poured it out of the flour bag.
"Is that it?" Sister-in-law Niu looked at Tian Jing in surprise.
"Yes," Tian Jing nodded. "Just let it settle overnight. Pour off the clear water in the morning, and what solidifies below is starch. Dig out the wet starch and dry it. It's best to spread it on a sieve to dry, with ventilation below the sieve, so it doesn't get moldy."
"Mhm, mhm," Sister-in-law Niu nodded vigorously. "So, is it the same for sweet potatoes?"
"Yes."
"I, I'll go home and make sweet potato starch first, and then I'll come back to watch you plant pumpkins, okay?"
Sister-in-law Niu was a bit embarrassed, as she had promised to help.
Li Min happily saw Sister-in-law Niu off. Sister-in-law Niu had snatched away all the work, and she hadn't had a chance to do it herself yet. "Sister-in-law Niu, hurry back."
Sister-in-law Niu took her family's cleaver and cutting board and hurried back to make sweet potato starch. Li Min was enthusiastically pounding sweet potato chunks.
Tian Jing just watched without speaking, letting her do it herself. The steps were simple, and she had watched them once. If she still couldn't do it, she would truly be as stupid as a pig.
After Li Min made the sweet potato starch, just as she was feeling a sense of accomplishment, she was hit by Tian Jing's words, "You're occupying the other water bucket too. Don't you need water at home tonight?"
Li Min quickly ran into the west room and brought out the large wooden basin that Tian Jing hadn't had time to use yet. "Heh heh, I'll borrow it for now."
Without caring about Tian Jing's expression, she quickly washed the large wooden basin, placed it by the wall in the main hall, poured the sweet potato slurry into the large wooden basin, and then looked at Tian Jing, expecting praise.
Tian Jing glared at her. "You don't deserve praise. You entered my room and took my things without permission. That's impolite. Next time, prepare all the necessary items before you do something."
"Yes, I'll listen to Sister-in-law," Li Min smiled happily even after being criticized.
Tian Jing couldn't bear to look at her silly expression. "Go to the back of the house and dig up a couple of dung baskets of soil."
"Yes."
Li Min carried the dung baskets to the back of the house. Her sister-in-law didn't want to go to the back of the house because it was next to the toilet, and the smell was too strong.
When she went to the toilet, her sister-in-law could still bear it, but for smaller needs, she would hide in the room and use a new chamber pot. Her husband would empty it before dawn. Don't think she didn't know, hum! Her husband pampered her sister-in-law too much.
Tian Jing... She also wanted to empty it herself, but every time she found it had already been emptied and washed clean, so she couldn't do anything.
And she really wasn't disgusted by the smell; could it be worse than the smell of zombies? She was disgusted by the lack of security, okay?
Dozens of corn stalks were arranged around three sides, leaving the side facing the wall completely open. Every time she had to relieve herself, she could barely hold it in, and she didn't dare to squat. She was also worried about leaving residual incontinence problems.
Li Min was fast and had already brought back two dung baskets of soil.
The soil and the small stones in it were indeed like the mixture of black and white sesame seeds that Li Min had described.
Tian Jing looked up at Li Zheng'guo, who was still making wooden boxes, "Comrade Li Zheng'guo, do you have a sieve with large holes?"