Quick Transmigration: Why did you provoke him? He's love-struck!

Chapter 470 Relying on Favor (15)

They exchanged a few words, and there were faint signs that the ice between them was breaking.

Zhao Yuan said seriously, "I have never doubted your enthusiasm in finding potatoes."

Yan Zhen raised an eyebrow slightly.

But her good mood only lasted a few moments. When she thought of the clueless potato, Yan Zhen's brows furrowed involuntarily.

She asked Zhao Yuan, "Have all the goods we brought been sold?"

Zhao Yuan nodded: "Once it's all sold out, we'll replace it all with medicinal herbs, as you suggested."

Yan Zhen pondered for a while and said, "Tomorrow, have everyone go out and look for potatoes. Search for three more days. If we still can't find them, we'll take a trip to a few small countries in the surrounding area."

Continuing to waste time here is not a wise move.

Zhao Yuan had the same idea: "Alright."

-

The next day, Yan Zhen and Zhao Yuan, along with two soldiers disguised as servants, went out to continue their search for potatoes.

Unable to find it in the market or the places where merchants gathered, Yan Zhen simply wandered around the fields outside the nearby city.

July is the hottest time of the year in Beijue. The sun is blazing down, and Yan Zhen's clothes were soaked with sweat shortly after he went out.

After searching the fields all day without any success, the group prepared to return to their home as the sun began to set.

As we passed through a pasture, a boy of about ten years old was herding a dozen or so sheep.

Two of the sheep suddenly started fighting, butting each other with their horns.

The child shouted several times in the Northern Jurchen language, and tried to separate the two fighting sheep by whipping them and using his hands.

But the two sheep remained unmoved.

The child muttered a few curses, then reached into the wicker bag slung over his side and pulled out two clumps of feed, which he then handed to the two sheep.

The two sheep immediately separated and rushed over to eat the feed from the child's hand.

Yan Zhen paused as he watched this scene unfold.

Zhao Yuan, who was walking next to her, also stopped subconsciously. He was about to ask her what was wrong when he saw Yan Zhen running quickly towards the direction where the child was.

Zhao Yuan quickly followed.

Yan Zhen ran up to the child and first asked him what he was feeding the sheep.

The child couldn't understand Mandarin, so the two couldn't communicate.

Yan Zhen was not giving up. He pointed to the bag slung over his side and then to the sheep.

After a series of nonsensical gestures, the child finally understood what Yan Zhen meant and opened the wicker bag to show her.

Yan Zhen became excited when he saw that the bag contained sheep feed made of soybean meal and cooked, mashed potatoes.

Suppressing her excitement, she gestured for the child to take out a clump of feed.

Yan Zhen carefully examined the food and confirmed that the thing mixed in with the feed was indeed a potato. She broke off a piece of potato and gestured to the child, asking where it came from.

The child understood and pointed to a farmhouse not far away, indicating that he had something there.

After some gesturing, Yan Zhen gave the child some money, and the child agreed to take her home to find potatoes.

Following the children herding sheep home, as we got closer, wisps of smoke rose from the small courtyard.

The child shouted as he pushed open the yard gate, saying a few words that Yan Zhen couldn't understand.

The woman who was cooking feed in front of the stove turned around, and Yan Zhen noticed that she was holding a wicker basket and was about to pour it into the boiling pot. The basket was full of potatoes cut into chunks.

"Wait!" Yan Zhen shouted, "Don't fall!"

The woman didn't understand, but her hands kept moving, even speeding up, as if she wanted to finish her work as soon as possible to entertain the guests.

Seeing that a third of the large basket of potatoes had been put into the pot, Yan Zhen didn't care about anything else and rushed over.

Just as the woman was tilting the wicker basket to pour all the potatoes into the pot, Yan Zhen reached out and grabbed the basket, managing to snatch most of the potatoes back.

She rushed in too fast and lost her balance when she pulled the potatoes back, almost falling headfirst into the boiling pot.

At the critical moment, Zhao Yuan arrived, grabbed Yan Zhen's arm, and pulled her back.

Yan Zhen bumped into his arms.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Zhao Yuan shouted, his face turning pale.

Yan Zhen's hand was scalded by the boiling water splashed from the pot. Ignoring the pain and Zhao Yuan, she hurriedly went to check on the potatoes that had been overturned on the ground.

Although the potatoes were cut into chunks, most of the eyes were still visible.

It still works.

Yan Zhen breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at the woman, whose face was not very pleasant due to the shock of her sudden action, and gave her an apologetic smile.

Merchants from Daliang would occasionally come to the Northern Jurchens to trade. The woman had worked as a cook in a local household in the city in her early years and knew some basic Chinese, but she could only understand him if he spoke very slowly.

Upon learning that Yan Zhen wanted to buy potatoes, the woman waved her hand and said, "No, no, they're poisonous. Humans can't eat them; they're for feeding sheep."

Yan Zhen turned around and gave Zhao Yuan a wink.

Zhao Yuan immediately understood and took out a string of copper coins from his pocket and handed them over.

Upon seeing the copper coins, the woman was taken aback, but quickly changed her mind and started discussing the price with Yan Zhen.

Yan Zhen took all the potatoes in the basket and asked the woman if she had any others.

The woman carried another basket of round potatoes out of the house, keeping a dozen or so as seeds, and selling the rest to Yan Zhen.

After the money and goods were exchanged, the woman saw the four of them off at the door as they left the farmhouse. She repeatedly warned them, "People shouldn't eat this, and you shouldn't eat too much of the sheep either. If you eat too much, you'll get poisoned."

Yan Zhen, carrying a bag of ashes he had gotten from the woman, smiled and said, "Okay, I'll remember that."

As Zhao Yuan left the farmhouse, he was still holding a piece of potato cut into chunks.

He asked, puzzled, "They're already cut into pieces, are you going to take them back with you?"

"Yes." Yan Zhen glanced at him. "Would you like to try it and see what it tastes like?"

Zhao Yuan remembered the woman saying that this thing was poisonous and could not be eaten, and immediately shook his head: "I don't want to."

Yan Zhen took the potato from his hand and quickened his pace: "Come on, I'll tell you how to plant this when we get back."

Back at the residence, Yan Zhen summoned several soldiers to sort through the basket of chopped potatoes. They picked out the ones with sprouts to dry, and discarded the others with bluish-purple or greenish skin.

After selecting them, there were still five or six pounds of potatoes left, cut into chunks and without any sprouts.

Yan Zhen called the cook to peel, wash, and slice the potatoes, then stir-fry them in a pot until cooked.

Before long, four or five plates of steaming hot potatoes were served.

The soldiers who had gone out returned one after another, gathered around the table and stared at the pot of fragrant potatoes, but no one dared to touch them.

Yan Zhen picked up a slice of potato: "Won't you try some?"

Wherever her gaze fell, everyone instinctively took a step back.

"No, no, no."

"I've already eaten out, I'm not hungry."

Some were outspoken: "I heard this stuff is poisonous, so I don't dare eat it."

Yan Zhen looked at Zhao Yuan.

Although Zhao Yuan did not express his opinion, his expression showed a hint of wariness.

Yan Zhen simply put the potato slice into his mouth right in front of them.

Seeing this, Zhao Yuan grabbed her arm and hesitated before saying, "Don't eat."

What if I eat it and die?

Yan Zhen pulled her hand away from his and ate the potato.