Chapter 353 Buying Sweet Potatoes

Chapter 353 Buying Sweet Potatoes

Although the old farmer's small family was not large and had not produced any particularly outstanding members, there were still a few members who lived relatively well.

Their old clan chief was one of them. Although the old man had suffered a lot in his early years, he was fortunate to have a good son who was eloquent and quick-witted.

Since the war ended, his son went to work as a shop assistant in Ningbo Prefecture.

If this job were in the Xie family, most people might think that he would be better off staying at home, farming and studying. But in the surrounding villages where the old farmer lived, those who could go to the city to work as waiters and earn a stable monthly salary were all remarkable people worthy of envy and admiration.

After all, having a helper in the family is equivalent to having a stable income that can withstand drought or flood, and this stable income can help the family get rid of poverty and hunger.

Ordinary people who are hungry, cold, and illiterate don't understand the saying "all other professions are inferior, only studying is superior." All they can see is the tangible change that a certain event brings to a person or a family.

They believed that education could improve the lives of their entire family, so they envied other families who had smart children who were good at studying.

Going out to work can make a good life for the whole family, so they envy other families who have capable children who can find work.

At that moment, the old farmer felt great envy for the old patriarch of their Li clan.

He pocketed the handful of copper coins that Xie Wanniang had gestured for Shanzi to slip into his hand, and with a smile, led Xie Wanniang and the others to their old clan chief's house.

Their old patriarch no longer works in the fields, but he remains the undisputed head of the family.

After explaining his purpose to his hunched-over uncle, the old farmer, who had received some unexpected wealth, went back to work in the fields. The old clan chief, on the other hand, called out in a loud voice to invite Xie Wanniang and the others to sit down at the stone table in the courtyard.

Xie Wanniang sat down as instructed, while the others stood quietly behind her.

The old clan chief could tell from this that Xie Wanniang must have come from a wealthy family's mansion.

He patted his ears, which weren't very good at hearing, and continued to shout at Xie Wanniang, "The thing that the noble lady mentioned, we do have at home, but it doesn't taste very good."

He called out to the little girl peeking in from the kitchen doorway, "Mao Mao, go get a boiled sweet potato!"

Mao Mao exclaimed "Hey!" and scurried into the kitchen on her short legs. Then, she used her little black hands to scoop out a small sweet potato that was no bigger than Xie Wan Niang's fist.

The little girl didn't dare to put the thing directly into Xie Wanniang's hand, so she tiptoed and placed the sweet potato on the edge of the table.

Before Xie Wanniang could thank her, she quickly scurried away on her short legs and hid behind her grandfather.

Xie Wanniang didn't complain about this or that. She reached out, took the long, thin sweet potato, and gently broke it in two.

The yellowish-white potato flesh is revealed, along with the thin strands around its outer edge.

The fruit was small, and its color was more like a chestnut than the red-fleshed sweet potato she had eaten in her previous life. Most importantly, this thing even had a fine, dense ring of fibers...

She asked the old man, "Grandpa, do you have any sweet potatoes that are bigger than this one?"

Noticing that the old man was hard of hearing, Xie Wanniang raised her voice and called out to him.

Upon hearing this, the old man shouted back in a loud voice, "Yes, there are some, but those are for breeding purposes, not for cooking and eating."

In the eyes of the old man, although this stuff is not as tasty as rice and noodles, it tastes better than wild vegetables. Most importantly, it has a high yield and is very filling. In ordinary families where even getting enough to eat is difficult, this stuff is still very precious.

Xie Wanniang breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this; as long as not all of them looked like that, there was no problem.

She asked the old man, "Could you sell me some sweet potatoes that I'm keeping for seed? The price is negotiable. Or do you know where else I can buy them?"

The old man thought for a moment, "My third son brought back quite a few last year. Most of the seedlings for this crop around here are bought from my family. If you really want some, I can spare two sacks, but the price..."

Xie Wanniang understood, "You can set the price. How much do you think is appropriate for a bag of sweet potatoes?"

The old man thought for a moment, then stretched out a frail hand covered in scars, calluses, and spots.

Xie Wanniang guessed blindly, "Fifty taels?"

The old man and the young girl were startled by the three words she suddenly shouted. The old man subconsciously waved his hand forcefully, "Five taels, I meant five taels!"

Xie Wanniang breathed a sigh of relief. Five taels was fine; it was much cheaper than the ten or twenty taels she had expected.

She took out a ten-tael silver ingot and, under the old man's gaze, pushed it onto the table in front of him.

The old man immediately said to the little girl hiding behind him, "Quick, go and call your parents and second uncle."

The little girl who had been hiding behind him, occasionally peeking at Xie Wanniang and the others, immediately darted out of the courtyard upon hearing this.

His parents were busy in the field when they heard their child call out out of the blue, "Dad, Mom, Second Uncle, my grandpa is calling you home." The couple were both puzzled.

But they couldn't ask any more questions, because after shouting that, the little girl ran away again.

The couple had no choice but to call on the man's younger brother and hurry home together.

When they got home, the three of them learned that their father had actually sold two bags of sweet potatoes for a high price of ten taels of silver.

The girl's parents never expected that such a bland-tasting dish could catch the eye of such noblemen, but this did not stop them from being happy that their family had an extra source of income.

The couple's eldest son was getting married at the end of autumn, but the dowry that had been promised to the bride was gradually used up at the end of last year because the old lady in the family fell ill and passed away.

Although the family is not unable to raise the money, it is a good thing that it can be done all at once, so that everyone doesn't have to scrimp and save.

The couple and the old man's second son went together to help Xie Wanniang pick out two bags of sweet potatoes.

Xie Wanniang personally inspected them and found that all the sweet potatoes they had chosen were heavy, and the skins of the sweet potatoes with a little bit of dirt on them were very smooth, without any rot or blemishes. It could be said that the quality was quite good, so she nodded in satisfaction.

She had the goods loaded onto the carriage and properly placed, while she continued talking to the old man, "Does your family have any other crops brought from other tribes?"

The old man answered in a loud voice, "Yes, there is, but nobody dares to eat that stuff anymore."