Traveling through troubled times to escape famine and cultivate crops as a grain merchant

Chapter 411 Bean sprouts

Zhou Guo looked at the fact that there were two more portions today than yesterday and shook his head. He heard that they had a quarrel last night and ended up quarreling for nothing, so there were only two more portions. Didn’t he hear that if it wasn’t enough, their family wouldn’t eat it?

Zhou Sanyuan came to serve the meal with a tired look on his face.

His wife got angry when she saw his expression, "Who are you showing this dead face to? Didn't I add so much extra that they couldn't finish it? Are you still not satisfied?"

Zhou Sanyuan said dejectedly, "What do you know? You don't need to add more. Their family has brought food to them to eat."

"Ah?" Zhou Guo and others were shocked. Who needs family members to deliver lunch to them at noon while working?

Zhou Sanyuan's wife was also unhappy, "Why, do you think our food is not good? Humph, if it's not good, just let them send it every day. It's not like I can't eat all the food myself. Just bring the food. I can save food."

After saying that, he turned around and left.

Zhou Sanyuan and a few children also carried their things and left.

The other families who had not left shook their heads when they saw this, "This is so embarrassing. Who would not feed their children when they work? She is so stingy. Zhou Sanyuan's family has been ruined by this woman."

"Yes, Zhou Sanyuan will be called a stingy person in the future. I guess no one will be willing to work for him in the future. His life will be more or less difficult."

Sad?

Zhou Guo felt that was not entirely true. People like Sanyuan's wife would live happily as long as no one took advantage of her.

The meals were cooked day by day according to the recipe, but on the fourth day, I found that there were no side dishes left.

The bracken has been finished. We have been eating all kinds of wild vegetables for two days. Do we need to eat more?

Everyone started to worry.

Zhou Guo smiled and said, "Don't worry, there will be new dishes at noon tomorrow."

"What dish?"

When everyone heard about the new dishes, they became curious, knowing that new ideas would pop up in her mind from time to time. The children in the family would carry baskets and dig everywhere for all kinds of fresh wild vegetables in the mountains after dinner every day. They had almost dug all the vegetables, and the ferns did not grow so fast. They couldn't eat pine mushrooms again, as there were still so many days left.

Zhou Guo said: "You will know tomorrow."

In the winnowing basket covered with white gauze, the bean sprouts are already more than an inch long, growing closely together and lushly, with two yellow buds on their heads, looking very beautiful.

A group of heads came up and stared at the bean sprout.

"I didn't expect that beans can be eaten like this. Can these sprouts that have grown so long really be eaten? They won't be poisonous, right?" Zhou Mi touched it carefully. The sprouts were really beautiful.

Zhou Gu said, "How can this be poisonous? They all grow from beans. How can beans be poisonous? Beans are delicious when made into tofu. The sprouts should also be delicious."

Li nodded, "I don't know if it tastes good or not, but it's a lot, so why not make some to eat this morning?"

Everyone agreed that for fresh dishes, of course you have to try them. How can you serve them to guests if you don’t try them?

Zhou Guo laughed, "Mom, I don't care if it tastes good or not. Anyway, this will be the vegetarian dish for lunch tomorrow. It tastes good, but it doesn't taste good either."

The old man came in from outside with his hands behind his back. He saw everyone huddled together and whispering. He came over to take a look and saw that the bean sprouts had grown so tall. He smiled and said, "Very good. We can eat them tomorrow."

Finally, there was fresh food to eat. All he had all day was wild vegetables, some of which were bitter and really unpalatable to eat. If Zhou Guo hadn't cooked them in different ways, he would have stayed in the mountains and never come back.

On the second day, Zhou Guo cut most of the sprouts, washed them, and put them in a colander.

Everyone came over to take a look, but they didn't recognize it. "What kind of dish is this?"

"It looks like some kind of sprout... ah, it's soybeans. Isn't this what soybeans look like when they sprout?"

The group then remembered that Zhou Guo bought a lot of soybeans at the last market. They thought he was going to fry the beans, but it turned out that he was going to use them for sprouting.

"Why didn't I think of sprouting it? It looks tender and should taste good. If it tastes good, I will go buy some soybeans later. If there is no vegetables to eat at home, I can sprout it and eat it."

I have never eaten it. The soybeans at home are either sold or exchanged for tofu and made into bean rice. If all else fails, they can be fried and made into delicious flavors. When working in the fields, chewing a few soybeans when you are hungry or tired can relieve most of your fatigue.

Everyone gathered around the pot, wanting to see how it was made.

Zhou Guo said as he was cooking, "This is very simple, just like cooking any other dish. Add a few garlic cloves and fry them, then add the bean sprouts and fry until soft, then add salt, soy sauce, and pine mushroom powder. Of course, if you don't have these things, you can just add salt. Stir-fry a few times and it's ready to go. If you want a richer flavor, you can add some leeks and garlic leaves. Unfortunately, I used all the leeks to make egg soup and forgot to save any."

Everyone looked at the big pot full of stir-fried bean sprouts. They had smelled a fresh fragrance when it was being stir-fried just now. They had never eaten such a dish before.

“Why didn’t we think of eating sprouts before?”

"Oh, who would be willing to eat them? How could you? The beans have already sprouted so long after being sown in the ground. If you just pick them and eat them, how can they grow beans?"

Everyone nodded, reluctant to leave.

Before dinner was served, Zhou Suli and several other children came back carrying baskets of wild vegetables.

These days, the children are outside looking for all kinds of wild vegetables.

But the wild vegetables I brought back today seem a little different. The basket is wet. Do I still need to carry it?

"Sister, sister, look, what did we pick up?" Zhou Su placed a few baskets in front of her like presenting treasures, smiling and waiting for praise.

When Zhou Guo took a look, he saw several large baskets of snails!

He was surprised and asked, "Where did you get so many snails?"

Zhou Su smiled and said, "We found it by groping along the small river at the entrance of the village."

"Yes, yes, there are a lot of them on the shallows, and in the cracks between the rocks, and there are many, many more!"

The children were talking about how they caught these things.

Zhou Guo smiled and said, "Well done, when my sister makes it, you guys can eat more."

Everyone nodded with a smile.

In the past, we would bring these things home and pound them to feed the chickens, and never eat them.

"Sister Guoguo, my mother said this stuff is smelly and smells like mud. Can we really eat it? In the past, we fed it directly to the chickens."

"It was Zhou Su who said this thing was edible, so we brought back so many."

Zhou Guo said: "Of course you can eat it. Come over early tomorrow morning and help wash it, okay?"

When they heard they were asked to help wash it, everyone was happy to do so. After all, they had touched the thing themselves, so they were happy to wash it.

Zhou Guo found four wooden basins, poured the snails into them, filled them with water, and added some salt.

"Sister, why do you need to add salt?"

Zhou Guo said: "It's to make it vomit out the dirt in its stomach. If the dirt is vomited out, it won't stink anymore."