"My eldest nephew has to go to school, and that silver has long been spent. Where would I get the money to pay you back?"
Cheng Loanloan changed the subject. "Chunhua Niang, do you know how much grain the Old Madam still has?"
Zhao Chunhua immediately replied, "Last night, A-nai took out ten jin of buckwheat flour and hid it in..."
Sun Shi pushed her daughter back. How could she tell her sister-in-law how much grain they had in the house? What if her sister-in-law wanted to move back in?
Her sister-in-law had given birth to four sons for the Zhao family. The Old Madam was soft-hearted and would definitely agree to let her sister-in-law move back in.
"There isn't much grain in the house. Those children are so hungry they're seeing stars!"
Sun Shi didn't dare to answer Cheng Loanloan. She was afraid her daughter, with her big mouth, would tell her sister-in-law everything about the family's situation.
Cheng Loanloan was happy that her ears were finally quiet.
The group walked deep into the mountains. A few days ago, no one had come here, but today, all the wild vegetables had been dug up.
They had no choice but to continue deeper into the forest.
Cheng Loanloan still wanted to find pine mushrooms and intended to go even deeper.
Zhao San's wife followed Cheng Loanloan. In fact, she still wanted to find out how much copper Cheng Loanloan actually had. How could she afford to eat meat?
She asked many times, but Cheng Loanloan never answered.
Moreover, Cheng Loanloan went deeper and deeper into the forest, and no one knew where she wanted to go.
Sun Shi looked at the sky and saw that the sun had appeared, and the weather was getting hotter and hotter. There were no more weeds or wild vegetables. She had to dig a basket of wild vegetables before noon, otherwise, the Old Madam would get angry again.
Just then, she saw a patch of fresh, delicious wild vegetables that no one had dug yet. She quickly sat down and started digging.
Zhao Chunhua followed and also sat down. She looked up and saw Cheng Loanloan still walking into the thorny woods ahead, bending over, looking for something.
She licked her lips. Had Big Aunt found something good, which was why she had money to buy meat? She rolled her eyes and quietly followed.
Cheng Loanloan and her four sons continued to walk. If there were wild vegetables or mushrooms by the roadside, she would let her four sons dig them, while she herself continued to walk. Even if she couldn't find pine mushrooms, it would be good to pick some bolete mushrooms.
She stepped on a thorny bush, pushed aside a large leaf, and suddenly a depression appeared in front of her.
A natural depression had formed between two mountains. This depression was full of dried lotus, which meant that about one or two months ago, this place was a lotus pond.
In this era, lotus flowers were plants that usually grew in the south and should not have appeared in this area between the north and south. Perhaps a bird or an animal had carried lotus seeds from the south to here. Then, this place gradually turned into a large lotus pond. She estimated at a glance that this place must be at least three or four mu wide.
But the people of Dàhé Village had lived in mountain caves for generations and had never known of something called a lotus flower, nor did they know that the muddy place where lotus flowers grew was full of lotus roots.
Lotus roots were good things. In many dynasties, they were tributes offered by the vassal states of the south to the imperial court. She didn't know if lotus roots were considered precious in this era...
Cheng Loanloan's eyes lit up as she looked at the dry, barren mud. In her mind appeared stir-fried lotus roots, minced lotus roots, lotus root cakes, sweet and sour pickled lotus roots...
She kept swallowing saliva, bent down to find a long, thick branch, and then jumped into the dry lotus pond.
The dry earth and hard mud were difficult to dig. Zheng Luanluan expended a great deal of effort, her palms covered in blisters, before finally unearthing a lotus root as long and thick as an arm.
She forcefully broke the lotus root into two pieces. Inside, the wild lotus root had seven pristine white holes and emitted a fragrant aroma.
Unfortunately, it hadn't rained in a long time, so the lotus roots that had just sprouted from the ground were tiny and lacked much nutritional value. The lotus roots were a bit small, not enough to make powder. The market disdained such lotus roots because they fundamentally had no value.
Zheng Luanluan placed the lotus roots she had dug into the basket on her back. Then she stood up and thoughtfully gazed at the lotus root field, about three or four mu wide, in front of her.