Buying Sweet Potatoes

Su Yuhe refused to believe it and touched the side of the bowl. It was a little hot, but still bearable.

She picked up the bowl and headed outside, but by the time she reached the doorway, her hands were so hot she wanted to let go.

She wanted to hurry outside, but the pain occupied her brain, and it took her ages to move just a few steps.

"I told you not to touch it."

The weight lifted from her hands. Li Yun carried the bowl to the table in a few strides, then came back to stand before her in a few more. "Did you burn yourself?"

Su Yuhe shook her hands, which still hurt. He clasped her palms, led her into the kitchen, fetched some water, and placed her hands in the basin.

He carried the remaining two bowls outside, then returned and felt her palms. "Any better?"

She nodded, took her hands out of the basin, and shook them. "Let's eat. I'm fine now."

"Hand-rolled noodles, hand-rolled noodles, hand-rolled noodles."

Murmuring about hand-rolled noodles, Su Yuhe headed outside. Only Lu Mingxi was there, staring fixedly at the noodles. She sat down, picked up her chopsticks, and looked around. "Where are the other two?"

"I bought some sweet potatoes. They're carrying them over. I'll go call them back." Li Yun headed toward the door. "You two eat first."

Lu Mingxi looked at the doorway, then at the noodles topped with minced meat, then at Su Yuhe. She lowered her head and mixed her noodles. "I'll start, then."

With her permission, Lu Mingxi mixed the minced meat into his noodles too. Only when she began eating did he follow suit and take a small taste.

His eyes widened. After two mouthfuls, Su Yuhe's mouth was stuffed full. Seeing his expression, she smiled until her eyes narrowed and said indistinctly, "Tasty, huh?"

He nodded, his little face almost buried in his bowl. The two ate mouthful after mouthful, and by the time the others returned, they had already eaten more than half.

Lu Mingyi and Meng Zhixian came in, each carrying a basket on his back. Amid her busy eating, Su Yuhe spared them a glance. "Why did you buy so many sweet potatoes?"

"Quite a few families couldn't scrape together enough silver, so they're selling sweet potatoes. They're much cheaper right now, so I bought some extra." Li Yun held several sweet potatoes. He set them aside and helped the two take off their baskets. "Wash your hands and eat. Any later and the noodles will clump together."

True enough, not every family in the village had as few mouths to feed as she and Li Yun did. Quite a few had three generations under one roof.

Second Sister Li's family, for instance, had only her mother in the older generation, but four children in the younger one. For seven people, they had to pay three and a half taels to the government granary and another three and a half to the village granary. Seven taels of silver amounted to a whole year's income.

She glanced over the two baskets brimming with sweet potatoes. "Processing this many will be quite a job."

Li Yun glanced at them too. "I bought quite a lot. It'll take at least the whole afternoon to carry them all over. Once they're dried, there'll be enough for you all to eat for a year."

"That many?" Su Yuhe exclaimed.

"A full tael of silver's worth. Over five hundred jin."

Sweet potato prices were quite stable. They were filling and high-yielding, and their price generally held at three copper coins a jin. Five hundred jin for one tael of silver meant two copper coins a jin.

"That's a pretty good deal. Why don't we buy some more?"

Li Yun headed into the kitchen. "No need. The sweet potatoes in my plot will be ready to harvest in just over half a month."

By the time the three sat down to eat, she and Lu Mingxi had both finished. She cast a couple of longing glances before putting down her chopsticks, saying, "I'm full," and taking her bowl back to the kitchen.

Perhaps she had eaten too quickly, and Su Yuhe's brain had yet to register how much she had eaten. She still wanted a little more.

She glanced at Lu Mingxi. He looked as though he wanted a little more too.

Su Yuhe asked, "Are you full?"

He nodded and answered obediently, "I'm full."

She reached out and gave him a pinch. "You're full, but I'm not. Go get a few sweet potatoes from outside. Let's make something for afternoon tea."

At that, Lu Mingxi eagerly ran outside and brought in several sweet potatoes. On his own initiative, he washed and peeled them. His movements were clumsy, but he still completed the task admirably. He brought the sweet potatoes over. "How do we make it? Wife, could you teach me?"

While he was washing and peeling the sweet potatoes, Su Yuhe had already rinsed the rice. She took a kitchen knife, cut the sweet potatoes a few times, and tossed them into the pot with the rice. "Sweet potato congee. This is all there is to it. Just use a little more water than you normally would for congee."

He nodded as though struck by realization. "It's so simple. I've learned it."

She did not know how to make anything difficult either. When cooking for herself, she always chose whatever saved the most effort.

"In summer, replace the rice with mung beans and cook it the same way." She pinched his cheek again. "I've taught you everything I know. From now on, keep learning from your Brother Li."

"Okay! I'll learn to make hand-rolled noodles from Brother Li, then make them for you every day, Wife."

Su Yuhe smiled. "All right. For the next few days, help him dry the sweet potatoes first."

As usual, she wrote away furiously in the study. Whenever she grew tired of copying books, she went outside to help dry the sweet potatoes.

The first person to discover sweet potatoes deserved a place of honor in the imperial ancestral temple. Without sweet potatoes, the common people might still have been struggling to keep themselves fed and clothed.

Meng Zhixian slipped quietly into the study. Su Yuhe glanced at him and continued copying.

He leaned against Su Yuhe, soft as though he had no bones, and rested his slender fingers on her left wrist. "Wife, the sweet potato congee is ready. Come out and have some."

Su Yuhe gave a mild "Mm." "Go eat first. I'll be right there."

Seeing his approach just now, she had thought he was about to repeat what had happened yesterday. It turned out he had come to call her to afternoon tea.