Chapter 20 Dried and sliced sweet potatoes

Yun smiled and said, “Mrs. Xie is too kind, this child has suffered a lot over the years, I don’t ask for her to be more excellent, I hope that she will just be able to live peacefully in the future.”

After a few people had exchanged pleasantries, and seeing that everyone had arrived, the governor’s wife announced their departure.

The position of the departure is also a matter of taste, walking in the forefront is Mrs. Xie and Miss Xie, followed by Yun and Wei Ruo, Wei Qingwan, then Mrs. Qian and Miss Qian, and then behind them are the county minister, the chief bookkeeper, and the wives of the other Xingshan County local families with some prestige.

Among the several ladies, if according to the husband grade, or Yun’s highest, the county magistrate is the seventh grade, Wei Mingting from the sixth grade, as for Mrs. Xie’s husband is only a citation has not yet been specifically served.

But Wei Mingting’s situation today is known to everyone, and the Xie family is in the ascendancy, so instead, Mrs. Xie is at the forefront.

Because the purpose of today’s trip is to pray for blessings, which is valued in the sincerity of the heart, so on the proposal of the governor’s wife, we walked up the mountain, hiking up the nine hundred and ninety-nine steps from the foot of the mountain to the front of the temple.

Wei Ruo followed behind Yun, not too fast and not too slow, whatever speed the others had, she also had, when the others stopped to rest, she also stopped to rest.

Try to stay out of the limelight and out of trouble.

The fastest walker was Xie Ying, striding in the forefront, leaving the others behind by at least twenty to thirty steps, and Mrs. Xie couldn’t even shout.

The rest of the crowd was not walking fast, and they had to stop for a rest after walking for a while.

Walking in this manner, it took more than half an hour before the crowd finally arrived at the temple gate of Fahua Temple.

The abbot was already at the door with a group of disciples to greet him.

After exchanging pleasantries with the abbot, the group entered the temple.

Because the governor’s wife had already spoken with the presiding abbot, today the Fahua Temple would not receive any other visitors, but only them, the women, so the temple was very empty and no one else disturbed them.

Upon entering the main hall, the crowd began to burn incense and kneel.

Wei Ruo mixed inside the crowd and also burned incense.

Kneeling on the futon and listening to the sutra, half a day passed.

At noon everyone is to stay inside the temple for fasting.

While waiting for the Lenten meal, the congregation sat in the Lenten hall and drank the tea provided by the monastery.

Because of the physical exertion from climbing the nine hundred and ninety-nine steps, and because it was noon again, everyone was a little hungry.

But Fahua Temple has a strict time for fasting, it must be at noon before the meal is released, so naturally everyone can’t break the rules and can only wait inside the fasting hall.

At this time Wei Ruo took out the dried sweet potatoes she had prepared and distributed them to the crowd for a taste.

Seeing what Wei Ruo took out, the crowd of women revealed a curious and puzzled look, as they had never seen this before.

And after seeing what Wei Ruo took out, Yun couldn’t help but tense up.

She had thought that Wei Ruo had brought the usual pastries, and as everyone was really hungry at this moment, her act of distributing pastries to everyone was nothing.

It turned out that people didn’t recognize anything she brought out, and they couldn’t help but worry.

Yun wanted to stop Wei Ruo at the moment it was too late, the things were all inside the hands of the ladies and young ladies of the families.

Wei Qingwan looked at Wei Ruo and then at what she had taken out, just as puzzled as the others. But she didn’t make a sound, sitting at Yun’s side, quietly watching the crowd’s reaction.

“Miss Wei what is this?” Mrs. Qian was the first to ask.

“This is called dried sweet potatoes, and it’s made from a plant called sweet potatoes.” Wei Ruo patiently explained.

“Sweet potatoes? What crop is that?”

“That’s a new crop that was accidentally brought by a merchant ship from the South Seas, and it’s already been planted over there in the Huzhou Prefecture, and a lot of farmers over there have already begun to plant it.”

“There’s such a thing?” Mrs. Qian looked at the red brick-colored, crystal clear dried sweet potatoes inside her hand, surprised with doubt.

The other women were equally curious.

Wei Ruo took a piece of dried sweet potato and ate it in front of everyone.

With Wei Ruo taking the lead, Mrs. Qian also took a tentative taste.

Dried sweet potatoes are crystal clear, soft and sweet, and although there are no complicated cooking methods, they retain the unique flavor of sweet potatoes.

Seeing this, the others also started to try the new “pastry” brought by Wei Ruo.

“It tastes good.” Mrs. Qian praised.

This was followed by the same praise from the other women.

“I have another morsel here made from sweet potatoes that you should try as well.”

Wei Ruo took out another brocade bag from the food box and opened the drawstring on it, letting a group of ladies see clearly what was inside.

This is sweet potato chips, is the sweet potato peeled and steamed, stirred into mashed potatoes, add cooked sesame seeds mixed well, applied to the mold, a thin layer, and then put into the sun for a few days, and so after drying and cut into small pieces to get the shape and texture of the sweet potato chips like potato chips.

The former is soft and sweet while the latter is very crispy and crumbles at the slightest touch of the teeth, but the flavor is much stronger.

“Is this also made from the sweet potatoes you just mentioned?” Mrs. Xie said curiously.

“Yes, it’s made from sweet potatoes, but it’s made differently.” Wei Ruo explained.

After the introduction Wei Ruo then distributed the sweet potato chips to the crowd to taste.

With the experience of dried sweet potatoes, this time the group didn’t hesitate to get their hands on them and taste them.

“This one tastes pretty good too.” Mrs. Money commented.

“I like this one better, it’s crispy and fragrant.” Xie Ying, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up and expressed her favorite sweet potato chips.

Mrs. Xie smiled, “My Ying Ying rarely says which food she likes, this sweet potato chips from Miss Wei are really to my Ying Ying’s liking.”

With Mrs. Qian and Mrs. Xie’s words, the other ladies also opened their mouths to praise Wei Ruo’s two types of sweet potato products.

And their recognition was exactly what Wei Ruo wanted.

Her sweet potatoes have been planted and will be sold locally when they are ripe.

In order to sell something in a place that hasn’t been seen yet, you have to do the marketing and the market base first.

Wei Ruo brought dried sweet potatoes and sweet potato chips for everyone to eat today for this purpose.

As long as these madams and ladies who represented the powerful and noble class of Xing Shan County approved of this food, then when her sweet potatoes were on the market, there would be no worries about the lack of sales.

Yun’s heart that was hanging in the air also fell along with the crowd’s praise.

Wei Qingwan had some bad taste, she didn’t know how to describe this feeling, she only felt that something was blocking her chest, making her a little breathless.

Talking and laughing, the temple monks sent the fasting food, all the people together with dinner, a few ladies have to go to the temple to follow the abbot chanting prayers.

Since the chanting process was very boring, it was arranged that only the ladies would go and the girls would walk around the temple on their own.

After half a day of restraint, they were finally free to move around, and a few people who knew each other well formed a group to find a place to play.

Wei Ruo intended to find a corner by herself, Wei Qingwan followed, “Where does sister want to go?”