The Eldest Daughter of a Rural Family
Chapter 254: Do You Think I Can Ascend to the Heavens? (9)_1

Chapter 254: Chapter 254: Do You Think I Can Ascend to the Heavens? (9)_1

Pei Qin handed him half a piece and urged him to eat, but Fang Liuming shook his head vigorously, repeatedly persuading them to not eat either.

Chang Yonglin watched from aside and also wanted to try.

The servant, seemingly resigned to his fate, rushed forward, "Young Master! Let this one taste it first. If I don’t die after eating it, then you can eat!" He grabbed a piece, skin and all, and chewed it. It didn’t taste bitter or strange, instead it was sweet and crispy, which made him puzzled.

Chang Yonglin gave him a look and also took a small half to chew and eat.

"Once the ones in the pot are done, they’ll be even tastier!" Pei Qin finished a small piece and stopped eating, turning around to focus on tending the fire.

There were some steaming in the pot, and some roasting at the bottom of it, they planned to eat only sweet potatoes that night.

When the sweet potatoes were ready, Pei Qin called Pei Wendong, "Make sure the main door is firmly closed!"

Pei Wendong knew she was guarding against the visit of the blind man, so he ran out to bolt the door.

Mo Heng still showed up while they were preparing to eat the roasted sweet potatoes.

Pei Qin cursed under her breath and then sniffed vigorously at the roasted sweet potato, "It doesn’t smell that strong, how could it drift so far!?"

In half a year’s time, Mo Heng’s sight was gone, but his hearing and sense of smell had become sharper, especially when they made some unusual food. But this time, it wasn’t the smell that Mo Heng detected, it was his knowledge of sweet potatoes. He had heard from Pei Wendong that Mu Xiu wouldn’t attend class because he was off to dig up sweet potatoes, and he knew that once they were dug up, they would definitely be cooked and eaten.

Pei Qin was already out of ideas about the blind man who came by from time to time to scrounge for food, so she threw him a piece of roasted sweet potato.

Fang Liuming saw Mo Heng for the first time. Seeing his handsome appearance, dressed in a long black robe that seemed to press down on him as if from a painting, he couldn’t help staring at him curiously.

Chang Yonglin, on the other hand, had seen him a couple of times, and every time, he came looking for food. Although he felt that Mo Heng might have an extraordinary identity, since Pei Qin didn’t even know his name and he was blind, he never asked more about it.

After finishing a piece of roasted sweet potato, Mo Heng asked for a few raw ones, and Pei Wendong escorted him back.

Pei Qin mashed the steamed sweet potatoes, added a bit of white sugar, sifted in some flour, mixed it well, washed her hands, and had Pei Yuan heat the oil. They deep-fried sweet potato balls, and, to prevent Mo Heng from coming back for more, immediately sent him a big bowl once they were done.

These balls were a favorite among the little radishes, tastier than the roasted sweet potatoes.

Yet Pei Qin only had eyes for roasted sweet potatoes; she hardly ate a few of the fried sweet potato balls, too oily and sweet for her taste!

A meal of sweet potatoes later, Fang Liuming and Chang Yonglin gradually accepted them, realizing they were a food from a foreign country, and with this knowledge, they grew bolder in eating them.

Pei Qin began to think of ways to deal with the mountains of sweet potatoes at home. An acre and a half yielded over a thousand pounds, and they had planted over seven acres more, which could be harvested after the frost in October. She couldn’t just leave these sweet potatoes lying around.

The Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, and Pei Qin decided to send mooncakes to each family in advance. A sack to the Feng family, two sacks to the Fang family. She also sent a sack to Landlord Zhao’s family, after all, they had made way for the land purchase and rented out the shop; it was just sweet potatoes. Sun Tiezhu’s family got a sack too, and so did Zouxing’s family.

When the families received the sweet potatoes and heard they were a type of grain from a foreign country, previously mistaken for medicinal herbs, and learned that they were edible and high-yielding crops, they were all greatly astonished and hurried over.

Pei Qin was already busy rushing Chang Yonglin home by donkey cart, pulling two sacks for Chang’s house and another sack to the Wang family. Then, making a detour, she delivered another sack to the County Government Office.

Magistrate Wu didn’t remember Pei Qin, but once he heard she was managing Shen Songming’s fifty acres of land, he let the servants take the sweet potatoes.

Pei Qin silently rolled her eyes and didn’t wait to see him, left a message with the servants for Magistrate Wu to properly understand sweet potatoes, and then drove the donkey cart into the town to buy some quality mooncakes and food to take home.

By the time she got home, the people hadn’t left yet, filling the house nearly to the brim.

Pei Yuan came forward and whispered the situation to her.

Pei Qin nodded and strode into the house.

Old Scholar Fang observed her step inside with steady strides. Clearly, she was a young lady, yet she possessed an undeniable presence. He looked at the Feng family members fixing their eager gaze on Pei Qin and shook his head internally. This match was not suitable; forcing a marriage would only make family relations awkward.

"Qinqin! I heard you went to the county town to send off these sweet potatoes. How did it go?" Fang Hui asked with an eager smile.

"Did you sell them all for money?" Grandma Fang also asked.

Pei Qin looked at Grandma Fang and smiled, "These sweet potatoes will be promoted as food in the future; how could they have made money now? They were all given away for free!"

"All that hard work for the season was for nothing!" Grandma Fang lamented.

Old Scholar Fang, however, nodded in agreement, "If sweet potatoes are to be promoted as a staple food, it’s reasonable to give them away at first. Although it’s a small loss at the moment, the potential reward is what’s most important!"

"Reward!? What reward? For growing these sweet potatoes, there can be rewards!?" Grandma Feng exclaimed, her eyes wide with surprise.

Fang Hui’s heart sank to the bottom.

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