Chapter 5
Chinese Yam
In the afternoon, Jian Qingqing brought Xiao Hu and Jian Rong to the mountain again. Thinking about the things in the Spatial Kitchen, she thought of ways to get rid of these two followers.
Looking at the two children who were digging in front of them, Jian Qingqing said, “Xiao Hu, you two dig here now. I’ll go to other places to look for it. That way, it’ll be faster.”
At this time, Xiao Hu and Jian Rong were completely focused on the large cluster of tender wild vegetables on the ground. They did not care about what she said at all. “Alright, you go ahead.”
Jian Qingqing found a place not far away from them that was hidden. She took out the three yams from the Space and used the branches to scrape the soil on the ground. Then, she smeared the outer layer of the yams with fresh soil and broke it into a few pieces.
The two children were almost done with their calculations, so they asked loudly, “Xiao Hu, are you done digging?”
“Almost!”
Jian Qingqing left the place and found a place where the vegetation was lush and covered by bushes that they had not looked for before. She poked a few times with her stick, but there were no snakes. Thus, she carefully dug open the bushes and placed ten eggs inside. Then, she carefully restored the bushes.
“Xiao Hu, come quickly! I found a nest of eggs!”
In a short while, Jian Qingqing saw Xiao Hu rushing over in a hurry.
“Where? Where are the eggs?”
Jian Qingqing pointed at the hole that she had poked out.
Xiao Hu could not wait to dig through the bushes and get in.
“Wow! Sis, there really are eggs!”
Not long after, Xiao Hu carefully used his clothes to carry a bag of eggs and crawled out.
“Quick, Sis, let’s see if there are any more eggs!”
At this time, Jian Rong also carried Xiao Hu’s basket and walked over. He looked at the eggs in Xiao Hu’s pocket with envy. “Sister Qingqing, you’re so lucky!”
Jian Qingqing took the basket and motioned Xiao Hu to put the eggs in it. Then, she took out three eggs and put them into Jian Rong’s basket. “These three are for you.”
Jian Rong was stunned and said in a daze, “That’s not good. Eggs are very precious.”
“Everyone who sees it has a share. We can just look for it again. Who knows, we might even find it.”
Although Xiao Hu was also very reluctant to part with it, he already regarded Jian Rong as a good brother in his heart. Moreover, this egg was discovered by his sister. She could give it to whoever she wanted, so he said, “You can take what my sister gave you.”
Jian Rong’s face was filled with gratitude. “Thank you, Sister Qing Qing. Thank you, Xiao Hu.”
His grandmother’s body had not been well recently. With this egg, she could replenish her body.
“It’s okay.” Jian Qingqing did not care too much. She still had dozens of eggs.
The skin would itch if it comes into contact with the juice of the yam. Jian Qingqing used hay to tie it into a bundle and held it in her hand.
“Sister, why are you holding a bundle of wood roots?”
“This is not wood roots, but something good.”
Xiao Hu was puzzled. Were these not just broken wood roots?
Following that, the few of them patted the bushes again. They did not find any eggs, but they did find three nests of bird eggs. One nest was discovered by Jian Rong.
Although there were only five or six eggs in a nest, no matter how small they were, they were still food. They gave one nest to Jian Rong and kept the rest.
When they returned home, no one had returned yet. Jian Qingqing planned to strike first and boil all the eggs. There were exactly seven of them, one for each person. If she kept them until the adults came back, they might not even be willing to eat one a day.
“Xiao Hu, go boil the water!”
“Okay!”
While the water was boiling, Jian Qingqing secretly put the salt into a bowl, then melted it with water and poured it into the pot, not daring to put too much.
Soon, the water was boiling. Jian Qingqing crushed the eggs one by one in each hand and threw them into the boiling water. The egg white quickly condensed in the boiling water, and the egg yolk slowly became ripe.
Jian Qingqing scooped out the whole fried egg and started another round of boiling eggs.
Xiao Hu was shocked by his sister’s bold action. “Sister, aren’t you afraid of being scolded by mom and dad?”
“What are you afraid of? They’ll eat it after it’s been boiled.”
Xiao Hu thought about it and agreed. If they did not finish cooking it, his grandfather and parents would definitely be reluctant to eat it.
After the fried eggs were boiled, Jian Qingqing poured the dozen or so eggs into the water and beat them into a pot of egg soup to cook wild vegetables and mushrooms.
At night, unsurprisingly, Jian Qingqing was yelled at.
“Daughter! We could have food for many days with this many eggs! They were all cooked by you in one meal!”
Even the usually open-minded Old Man Jian disagreed. “Keep them and eat them slowly, or use them to exchange for some coarse food. It’s enough for you little ones to eat for a long time. What’s the point of wasting the eggs?”
Jian Qingqing chuckled. “Grandfather, Father, Mother, I said that I would let you live a good life. It’s just a few eggs. We’ll definitely find them again tomorrow. Why did I cook all the eggs? Isn’t it because I know that you can’t bear to eat them? You feel sorry for us, but we also feel sorry for you. You don’t know how much I feel sorry for you. You almost couldn’t walk after a day of hard work, and you still have to work hard for us. It’s just a few eggs. If you don’t want to eat them, then I won’t eat them either.”
Xiao Hu was already very afraid. When he heard his sister’s words, the tears in his eyes could not help but fall. “Yes, if Grandfather and Father don’t want to eat them, then I won’t eat them either!”
Xiao Ye also pushed the bowl of eggs in front of Old Man Jian. “Grandpa will eat, Uncle and Aunty will eat too. Sister will eat, brother will eat, I will eat too.”
Old Man Jian looked at the stubborn faces of the children and sighed faintly. “Eat, eat, eat. To be able to get such filial children, I’m willing to die even if I have to.”
Jian Qingqing chuckled. “What are you talking about? Grandfather, you still have to live a long life. Don’t worry, there are still many good days ahead!”
Mother Jian also laughed. “We have lived well these days. As long as you don’t anger us like this in the future, it’s fine. You’re not allowed to cook food in the future. Wait for me to come back to cook. I don’t know what’s wrong with you, little girl. You’ve become so stubborn and talkative after waking up.”
Jian Qingqing did not answer her mother. Instead, she said, “Grandpa, hurry up and eat. I’ll show you something good after you finish eating.”
“What good thing? Aren’t eggs good enough?”
“You’ll know after you finish eating. They’re definitely better than eggs.”
Although they felt sorry for the eggs, the family still enjoyed eating them.
After eating, Jian Qingqing took out her bundle of Chinese yams and placed them in front of her family.
“Look!”
“What is this?” Old Man Jian, who had lived the longest, had never seen this thing before.
Jian Qingqing smiled mysteriously. “It’s good stuff!”
“Hurry up and say it, why are you playing charades!”
“Hehe.” Jian Qingqing finally stopped teasing them, she explained, “This is Chinese yam. It can be used to make medicine or it can be taken away and eaten as a vegetable. This was told to me by a herb gatherer I met in the past. At that time, he was digging this Chinese yam.”
Of course, she had made up the story of the herb gatherer. It was true that the yam could be used to make medicine, but no one on their side should know about this kind of plant.
“What? This is medicine? Aiyo, how much can this bundle be sold for?”
Hearing that it was medicine, Old Man Jian carefully raised it up and looked at it. Medicine was very precious.
“I’m not selling it. I’m going to grow more of it.”
“What?” The three adults looked surprised.