If you keep making noise, I won’t stand it anymore!

At dawn the next day, Meixiang took Chen San, Meiying, Xiaoer and Xiaosan to the back of the next village. At first glance, they saw some spherical fruits covered with mud scattered on the open space in front of a set of three main houses surrounded by bamboo fences.

Meixiang was delighted, knowing that this was definitely the one.

Chen San went up to knock on the door and asked, "Excuse me, is this Liu Daniu's house?"

"Hey, here I come," a man's voice responded immediately from inside the house. The middle-aged man who was slightly older yesterday opened the door and walked out. Seeing Meixiang and others standing outside the fence, he immediately called out to them, "Little girls are here, come in, come in."

"Uncle Daniu, thank you for your help! I won't go in to bother you. How is my father-in-law's health?" Meixiang greeted with a smile.

"Much better now. I can sit up today. I just ate some porridge. Thanks to you for saving me yesterday. I really don't know how to thank you."

"You're welcome. I just happened to diagnose my father-in-law's illness. Uncle Daniu, is this what my father-in-law ate yesterday?" Meixiang asked, pointing at the "lumps of earth" on the ground.

"Yes, that's right. I found them accidentally when I went up the back mountain a few days ago. They looked like fruits, and a few of them that were broken with a hoe still had moisture. So I dug some up and brought them back to see if I could make them into food. Who knew they were actually poisonous and almost cost my father's life." Liu Daniu rubbed his hands as he talked about the origin of this thing. He still feels a lingering fear when he talks about it now.

Meixiang squatted on the ground and looked at the twenty or so "lumps of earth" in front of her. The more she looked, the more excited she became, and the happier she felt. She really found it. These potatoes were dug out two days ago. Some of the skins were beginning to turn slightly green, and small sprouts were about to emerge, but two-thirds of them were not fresh and edible.

In order to prevent any accidents, Meixiang picked up a potato with green skin and asked, "Brother Daniu, was this the potato my father-in-law ate yesterday?"

Daniu took it and looked through his memories carefully, then pointed to the tip of the potato and said, "Yes, that's right. There's a tooth on the green skin here, and my dad asked me to cut it off with a kitchen knife."

"Miss, what is this? Can humans eat it?" Seeing how respectful Chen San and the others were to Meixiang, Da Niu quickly changed his address.

Meixiang got a positive answer to her guess, and she was in a joking mood: "Uncle Daniu, if I say this is edible, would you still dare to eat it?"

Liu Daniu was stunned when he heard this. Before he could even show a surprised smile on his face, he thought of the suffering his father endured yesterday. He shook his head and said, "Forget it. Dad was lucky to meet the young lady yesterday and survived. If it happens again, he might really die. Ugh."

"If you need these, please take them away. I'm worried about leaving them here." Liu Daniu slapped his mouth and pointed at the potatoes on the ground.

"Okay, but I still need to trouble Brother Daniu to take us to the place where you found this thing. It would be terrible if someone else accidentally eats it without knowing it."

"No problem, no problem."

Chen San and his friends quickly packed the potatoes on the ground into their backpacks and temporarily stored them in Liu Daniu's woodshed until they came back to get them.

Liu Daniu reported to the village chief yesterday after returning to the village, so he led them to the back mountain and introduced the situation of the back mountain while walking. Although there is no explicit rule in the village that non-villagers are not allowed to go up the mountain, it has gradually become a tacit rule passed down from generations of ancestors.

This village is located downstream of Liujia Village. Its topography and landforms are basically similar to those of Liujia Village, but it is more humid geologically than Liujia Village. Meixiang looked around calmly. There were not many opportunities to walk around other people's territories without worrying about it, so she felt like she was fighting against the local tyrants in a fair and open manner.

After walking to the left for about half an hour, Liu Daniu called us and we saw potato vines connected one by one, winding their way forward. Except for a small piece near the front that had been dug up, the others were basically kept the same. It seemed that other than Liu Daniu occasionally finding and digging up a few vines, other villagers were not very curious.

"Brother Daniu, can we dig some of this?" Meixiang asked Liu Daniu for confirmation. Although the things at home had filled two backpacks, it was just a drop in the bucket for the huge population of the Liu family.

Besides, it is almost the end of March, which is the best time to plant potatoes. Meixiang wants to try to plant some. The growth cycle of potatoes is generally 60-100 days. I don’t know if this is an early-maturing variety, so I can use this opportunity to verify it.

"Miss, I talked to the village chief yesterday. He meant that as long as you don't dig up all of it, you can dig as much as you want. It's just a wasteland anyway. But if you really find a use for this thing in the future, I hope you can teach us."

"Okay, please tell the village chief to thank him! If I really figure it out in the future, I will be the first to invite you." Meixiang promised happily. If the experiment really produced results, she would definitely promote it nationwide given her mother's and her status.

Chen San took Meiying, Xiaoer and Xiaosan to dig potatoes there according to Professor Meixiang's method, while Da Niu took Meixiang for a walk nearby.

"Uncle Daniu, have you seen any potatoes around here? The thing that Chen San and the others are digging now is commonly called potatoes. It is similar to potatoes, but grows in the soil. The vines are longer, the skin is thin but red, and the flesh inside is white?" Meixiang wanted to try her luck. Since she had found potatoes, it would be even more perfect if she could find sweet potatoes as well.

Liu Daniu recalled carefully and confirmed that he had not seen it yet. He shook his head and said, "I haven't seen it yet, nor have I heard from the villagers. But if there is any news, I will send you a message."

"Thank you very much, Brother Danniu." Meixiang walked around while secretly noting down the herbs that were not available in the back mountain of Liujia Village. She wanted to ask if she could pick some now, but after thinking about it, she decided not to. One should not be too pushy, right?

During this time, some villagers who went up the mountain saw Daniu and a few unfamiliar young men and women digging up unwanted "lumps of earth", and they curiously asked what was going on. Liu Daniu introduced Meixiang to the villagers, and told them in detail about how his father accidentally ate food and was saved by Meixiang yesterday, and then conveyed the words of the village chief.

"That old man Liu is really lucky. Daniel should thank this little girl very much."

"Yes, yes, little girl, dig more and bring it back. If the experiment is successful, remember to teach us more then."