Chapter 265: The Origin of a Potato

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

“Madam.” An old woman was cleaning up the kitchen and quickly bowed when she saw her.

Shen Yijia waved her hand and asked, “Do you have ginger?”

“There’s another small piece. Do you need it? I’ll get it for you.”

“Alright.”

The rain outside gradually lessened, but it did not show any signs of stopping. Shen Yijia stood under the eaves and reached out to catch some water to play with for a while. Her gaze suddenly drifted to the junk that the old women had gathered. There were broken porcelain pieces, rotten leaves, and everything else. It was really a mess.

She frowned and squatted down. She took out something and was about to pick it up to take a closer look.

When the old woman returned and saw her actions, she quickly stopped her in a panic. “Oh my, Madam, you can’t touch that thing. It’s moldy, it’ll dirty your hands. I’ll throw it away now.”

It was also because her little grandson had been sick for a few days. She was busy going back to take care of him after preparing food every day and did not clean up in time, so it piled up.

Normally, it wouldn’t have mattered, but her master happened to see it. It wouldn’t be good if they thought she was trying to steal something.

The corners of Shen Yijia’s mouth twitched. She quickly picked it up and hid it behind her back. “Just throw the rest away.”

“This…” The old woman looked at Shen Yijia strangely, not understanding why she wanted that thing. It wasn’t like she could eat it.

Shen Yijia waved her hand angrily. “Hurry up and go. You’re no longer needed here.”

The old woman could tell that Shen Yijia was impatient. She agreed in fear and trepidation, not daring to dawdle any longer. She picked up the miscellaneous items she had packed and left.

Only then did Shen Yijia take out the thing hidden behind her. It was the size of her fist. The more she looked at it, the more familiar it felt. Why did it look like the potatoes she ate in the courtyard?

“But this potato, why are you turning green and sprouting? Potatoes can’t be eaten after they’ve grown sprouts.” she thought. She placed the potatoes in the rain to wash them.

This was the first time she had seen potatoes in more than a year. For some reason, it reminded her of sweet potatoes and roasted sweet potatoes. She smacked her lips and wanted to eat them.

In her previous life, when she was hungry, she relied on stealing from the kitchen. She took out sweet potatoes or potatoes to roast and eat. They were sweet and fragrant.

“What are you doing here?” A gentle voice came from behind, pulling Shen Yijia out of her fantasy of eating roasted sweet potatoes.

When Song Jingchen came out of the shower and didn’t see Shen Yijia, he thought that she was hiding in anger. He asked the servants and found out that she had come to the small kitchen.

She could only be up to one thing in the kitchen. Due to some unspeakable thought, he quickly looked for her, only to see her staring blankly at the rain.

“I’m cooking ginger soup for you.” Hearing Song Jingchen’s question, Shen Yijia remembered why she came to the small kitchen.

She casually placed the little potato aside and prepared to get the piece of ginger that the old woman had placed there. Song Jingchen’s eyelids twitched. He held her hand and pretended to be curious. “What is this?”

He really did not know it, but from Shen Yijia’s expression just now, she seemed to know what this was.

“Potatoes.” Shen Yijia glanced at him. “It’s a pity that they can’t be eaten anymore. I wonder who was so careless to spoil them.”

Shouldn’t the food in the city be very precious now? How could anyone be so wasteful?

“Potato?” Song Jingchen originally just wanted to divert her attention, but now he was really interested. He picked up the potato and looked at it carefully for a long time. After confirming that he had never seen it before, he confirmed again, “Is this edible?”

Shen Yijia was shocked. Her beautiful husband had never eaten potatoes before? Wasn’t this an ordinary ingredient?

She carefully observed Song Jingchen’s expression and confirmed that he didn’t do it on purpose. She nodded repeatedly. “Of course. At our place…”

“Yes?”

Realizing that she had said something wrong, Shen Yijia quickly corrected herself. “Well, I read about it in a book. This thing is called a potato. Not only can it be cooked, but it can also be used as a staple food. However, it can’t be eaten after it germinates. It’s poisonous.”

“Oh, right. I don’t know where that book went, and I don’t remember the t.i.tle.” Afraid that Song Jingchen would ask further, Shen Yijia added.

This cover-up was too clumsy. Song Jingchen didn’t expose her and asked tentatively, “Can humans eat potatoes too?”

Shen Yijia thought to herself, “What kind of strange question is that? Did he think she wasn’t human?”

Also, if humans couldn’t eat potatoes, who else would be eating them? Ghosts?

She smirked and said firmly, “Yes, of course.”

Thinking of something, her eyes lit up. “Hubby, you want to…?”

Knowing that this girl had guessed what he meant, Song Jingchen pursed his lips and nodded. “I wonder where these potatoes came from?”

If he could find them, it would temporarily solve the problem of food in the city. As for whether it could really be eaten, since Shen Yijia said that it could be eaten, Song Jingchen naturally believed her.

This question stumped Shen Yijia. How would she know where it came from? Her excitement from before subsided a little.

She explained how she found this potato. Song Jingchen immediately summoned the old woman for questioning.

The old woman was brought to the kitchen by South Wind in a daze. When she was asked about the potatoes, she thought that there was something wrong with them. She nervously explained how the potatoes came about.

It turned out that this was given to her by the citizens of Xunyang City when Shangguan Han was unconscious a few days ago. Butler Wan a.s.signed it to this small kitchen. However, the old woman had never seen it before, so she naturally did not dare to use it to cook.

She even specially asked Butler Wan, but he said that he didn’t know. Because everyone had given them too many miscellaneous things, most of them were wild vegetables. Butler Wan couldn’t recognize all of them after coming out of the palace, so he just a.s.signed it to the pile of wild vegetables.

When Butler Wan was asked by the old woman, he realized that he had almost made a big mistake. He brought the old woman to check the food distributed everywhere again and realized that this potato was the only thing they didn’t recognize.

The two of them even wondered if someone had given it to the wrong person. They simply made a note not to eat it, and let the matter rest.

Song Jingchen frowned and called Butler Wan over. Butler Wan’s words were the same as that old woman’s. This potato was given to him by someone else.

In the end, Song Jingchen had no choice but to instruct Butler Wan to bring people to look for the people who sent this potato.

He was prepared to send someone else to the mountains to look for them, but the rain would probably not stop for a while. He could only postpone sending someone to look for them.

Shen Yijia knew how hard Song Jingchen had worked to solve the food problem. After dinner, she returned to her room and told him what she knew.

Actually, she didn’t know much. She guessed that it must be cheap. Otherwise, the courtyard residents wouldn’t have been able to eat potatoes so often, including sweet potatoes.

If it was cheap, it shouldn’t be difficult to grow it, right?

As soon as she finished speaking, Song Jingchen hugged her.

Shen Yijia was stunned. “What’s wrong?”

She did not know what was wrong with her beautiful husband these days. He did not even hug her when she slept. This was too sudden.

“Thank you.” Song Jingchen still looked tired, but his eyes were gentle.