The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Chapter 176 Bring back

Her husband said that even if she didn't have these abilities, she was still a seventh-rank lady.

Many things have happened in other villages, but our village has always been peaceful. No one dares to cause trouble. The village chief is always polite to them, and they have never been troubled when paying taxes. What a great honor!

Under his previous employer, Cheng Dahang not only had to greet the village chief with a smile, but also had to fawn over the tax officials. From time to time, he also had to deal with the villagers' petty thefts and unreasonable behavior. It was really tiring.

But after he took over as the new boss, Mrs. Chen, those messy things never happened again. He only had to lead the men on the farm to farm and he didn't have to worry about other things.

Obviously, this is the ability of Mrs. Chen or the person behind her. This makes Cheng Dahang more diligent and often reminds himself that this woman is not simple and he must do his work carefully and not make any mistakes.

Yang told Cheng Dahang about Chen Cui's request. Even though he didn't quite understand why the boss wanted such poisonous fruit, he immediately mobilized some people and found a few men who were familiar with the mountains to carry backpacks and sacks to the back mountain to pick oak nuts.

Because oak nuts have hard shells, those that matured last winter did not rot even though they fell to the ground. At most, they were a little damp and dirty on the outside, making them easy to pick up.

When Chen Cui returned to the city in the mule cart in the afternoon, there were three sacks of oak nuts on the cart. She was very satisfied with Cheng Dahang's efficiency.

She first asked Xu Dagui to drive the mule cart home to unload the things, and then asked him to pick up Suisui.

Chen Cui instructed Mrs. Mai and Mrs. Ding to take some time to remove the shells of the oak nuts and peel off the skins inside, as she had a use for the kernels inside.

Mai didn't quite recognize this thing, but Ding was from Longnan Prefecture and was very familiar with the iron oak tree, so she naturally knew that this was a poisonous oak nut.

Seeing that Chen Cui brought back so many of these things and acted as if they were useful, she couldn't help but kindly remind her.

"Madam, this stuff is poisonous. Not only can it be eaten by humans, but even animals will be unable to defecate if they eat it, and will eventually die."

What Ding said is everyone’s common understanding of it.

Because the iron oak is hard and grows tall, it is good for both burning firewood and making furniture. Almost every village in Longnan Prefecture has planted a lot of it. If the fruit is edible and useful, they would not be left to ripen and fall to the ground.

In those days, grain production was low and taxes were heavy. If a family had many people but little land, they could not get enough to eat relying solely on the output from the land, so they had to make up for it from other sources.

For things like elm seeds and locust flowers, everyone will pick them when they are edible. The wild vegetables in the fields in spring don't even have time to grow. Some are dug up and taken home as soon as they emerge. As long as they are edible, they will never be wasted.

For example, if this oak nut had not really been poisoned or someone had died there, and people had learned a lesson from it, how could it be that no one would pick it up when it fell on the ground, and only children would play with it?

Chen Cui knew her concerns. After all, it was something that everyone said was poisonous. If something went wrong, she would be the one to bear the consequences.

"Don't worry, I know, it's okay." Chen Cui said to her with a smile.

It was also because of my carelessness. I saw this thing in the mountains not long after I came here. At that time, after I recognized it as the Qinggangzi I had seen before, I thought I could sell it to improve my life. Unexpectedly, after I successfully made charcoal, I never thought about it again.

Although these small fruits are edible, they are really troublesome to handle. At that time, the profits from charcoal were quite good, and life soon became better. Naturally, she would not waste time and energy on these low-profit things.

The oak seeds that everyone is talking about are the Cyclobalanopsis nuts that she had seen when she was traveling in Shu in her previous life. Only some elderly people in the local area who had experienced the three-year natural disaster knew how to cook it. They would occasionally make some when they had time, as a way of reminiscing about the past.

After the mature Cyclobalanopsis glauca is shelled and peeled, it is soaked in water for seven days, changing the water every day. The fruit is then crushed and ground, filtered, added with water and boiled to make Cyclobalanopsis glauca tofu.

If you don’t mind the trouble, you can also grind the fruit, dry it in the sun, and then add some good flour to make noodles.

However, this stuff was mostly eaten when there was a food shortage. No one would be willing to put white flour in it. Most of the time, it was made into tofu directly and eaten with some seasoning.

Later, Chen Cui checked on the Internet and found out that the reason why Qinggangzi is so difficult to process is because it contains tannins, which can only be completely removed after soaking in water before it can be eaten safely.

The starch content of Cyclobalanopsis glauca is very high, reaching 70%. No wonder people use it to fill their stomachs during famines.

Moreover, it can not only be used to make foods such as tofu and noodles, but can also be used as animal feed and even to make wine.

However, in modern times, with the availability of a richer variety of food, higher yields, and easier processing, things like Cynomolgus have gradually been forgotten and have become a symbol of nostalgia among the elderly.

Nowadays in Longnan, iron oak can be seen almost everywhere. This kind of tree grows tall, and almost every tree weighs several hundred kilograms of oak. If we can prove that the oak is edible, it can provide food for many people.

I know that this thing is definitely edible, but first I have to come up with favorable evidence to confirm it before I can find a way to make it public.

In the minds of the people, the view that oak nuts are poisonous has been passed down for many generations. Even children know that they cannot be eaten and can only be played with.

Now, these oak nuts at home will be used for experiments. When she comes up with definite experimental results, she will go to Zhang Ruomei to explain the situation.

It would definitely not work if she just went and told others about this on her own, as no one would believe her. Only when the government released the news would people dare to try it.

Chen Cui believed that Lord Wang would be very happy to know about this, and would be willing to report the matter to his superiors, who would then issue a notice to the public.

This is a good thing that benefits both the country and the people. The iron oak trees are not only found in Longnan, and the disaster has not only occurred in Longnan. As long as the news spreads, countless people will benefit from it.

Chen Cui is not a good person who does good deeds indiscriminately, nor is she a great philanthropist who cares about the country and the people, but she is still willing to do some good things within her ability and help more people.

She had previously helped promote corn, guided Zhang Ruomei in finding new grain varieties, and clarified that oak nuts were edible. These were all beneficial to both herself and others.

Especially in times of bad harvest, the role of grain is even more important. The emergence of new food is a great thing, both for oneself and for those who are short of food.