After Li Yao had arranged everything, she asked Da Zhuang to move the square table out of the house. Then she poured some boiling water into coarse bowls.
"County Magistrate and madam, we farmers don't have tea leaves. Please just drink some boiled water," said Li Yao.
Song County Magistrate and his wife didn't mind at all. After bumping along the village paths for half a day, the couple was quite thirsty. Song Zhe scowled and turned his face away from the bowl with many chips.
Li Yao noticed but didn't fuss over a child.
After quenching their thirst, Li Yao chatted idly with the county magistrate's wife about household affairs or women's matters. Song County Magistrate couldn't get a word in and started looking around.
Soon he noticed Wang Er studying in the bamboo shed, with a teacher specially tutoring him. So he shuffled over and stood outside the shed, eavesdropping.
And this listening was no trivial matter!
As someone from a literary family who had served as a third-rank official, he could of course tell if Teacher Lv was lecturing well or poorly.
He was astonished to find such a distinguished teacher in this remote village. This teacher was absolutely better than the tutors at the county school!
No wonder he had felt Wang Er was well-read whenever they met. So he had such an excellent teacher! He made a mental note to ask about the teacher's background later.
After listening for a while, Song County Magistrate's eyes were drawn to Du Xiao Hui feeding goslings.
Looking around, he saw that Li Yao had at least a hundred geese. That was very rare for an ordinary village. After all, geese ate a lot of wild grass.
And to get them to lay eggs, you'd need to feed them grain too.
But he was even more curious where Li Yao had bought so many goslings of the same size.
"Little girl," he asked, "Where did you buy these geese?"
"We didn't buy them," Du Xiao Hui replied. "Auntie Li hatched them in her incubator."
Incubator?
Song County Magistrate suddenly felt rather ignorant, not knowing what an incubator was.
"Take me to see what an incubator looks like."
"Sure, please come with me."
Du Xiao Hui led Song County Magistrate into the hatchery. He was quite impressed after seeing it.
The design wasn't ingenious, but it was definitely very clever, not something an ordinary person could think up.
"How many goose eggs can it incubate at a time?"
"I heard about 300."
That made sense.
With 300 goose eggs per batch, and 40% hatch rate, it could hatch over 100 goslings.
If this method spread, poultry could be hatched and raised on a large scale in the future. The more raised, the lower the feeding costs, the cheaper to sell, so more commoners could afford it...
In an instant, Song County Magistrate's thoughts raced far ahead. When he came to, he realized he had been staring blankly at Li Yao's profile, not knowing for how long.
How rude.
Fortunately no one had seen him, or he wouldn't have been able to explain himself.
After wandering around a bit more, it was time to eat. He Xiao Ya swiftly brought out dish after dish from the kitchen.
Fish fragrant pork slices, twice cooked pork, braised tofu, radish and meatballs, scrambled eggs with scallions. There was also braised goose, a braise platter, and a large platter of cilantro lamb.
She had learned to cook all these dishes from Li Yao. They were her specialties, especially the cilantro lamb, which she had studied diligently. She noticed Li Yao especially liked lamb, so she had paid extra attention when learning.
Song County Magistrate was from the capital and had grown up eating lamb. But since coming to Baichuan County he had never smelled such an authentic aroma. He shamefully swallowed several mouthfuls of saliva.
But to be fair, Li Yao's daughter-in-law must be very clever to make such authentic cilantro lamb.
"Young lady of the Li family," the county magistrate's wife also thought the lamb was delicious, "Where did you learn to make this lamb?"
"From a northern merchant who came to buy goods."
"I see." The county magistrate's wife smiled. "Well, call everyone out to eat quickly. Lamb isn't good when it gets cold."
"No need, they're eating inside."
Although unwilling to follow old conventions, Li Yao still didn't let the children eat at the table, as there wasn't room.
Just then, Du Xiao Hui brought out a plate of steamed sweet potatoes: "County Magistrate, madam, these are sweet potatoes."
Seeing the sweet potatoes, Song County Magistrate's eyes lit up. "How do you eat them?"
"Just peel off the skin and eat them directly," said Du Xiao Hui. "They're very soft and sweet."
Song County Magistrate and his wife each took a sweet potato, peeled off the skin, revealing the orange flesh and sweet aroma.
After a small bite, it was indeed soft and sweet.
"Quite delicious," the county magistrate's wife remarked. "It seems finer than taro, sweeter than pumpkin, and not as watery either."
Song County Magistrate nodded in agreement.
The villagers of River Bend were really fortunate. In this famine year they could still eat such filling and delicious grains.
"Can this be planted on a large scale?"
"Yes," said Li Yao. "And sweet potato yields will be much higher than rice or wheat."
Song County Magistrate quickly asked, "How much can it yield?"
"With careful cultivation and sufficient fertilizer, at least 2,000 catties per mu," said Li Yao. "It doesn't require good soil or much water either, and can be planted extensively even on barren hills."
2,000 catties per mu?
On poor soil too?
Song County Magistrate stared incredulously at the sweet potato in his hand, unable to process this information.
2,000 catties per mu, that's 20,000 catties for 10 mu!
If a person eats 3 catties per day, 10 mu could feed 18 people for a whole year!
Most importantly, it wasn't picky about soil and could withstand drought!
If it was planted nationwide under Great Ling, there would never be grain shortages again!
And Li Yao would become a heroine for the ages!
After calming his excitement, Song County Magistrate asked solemnly, "Are you sure sweet potatoes can yield over 2,000 catties per mu?"
"Absolutely."
2,000 catties was nothing.
In his previous world, yields of over 6,000 catties per mu were common, averaging 3,000-4,000 catties. So ordinary people there no longer ate sweet potatoes, using them instead for starch, noodles and other byproducts.
Or to feed pigs.
"Then what is this careful cultivation method you mentioned?"
"That will take some time to explain," said Li Yao. "Let's talk while we eat."
So as they ate, Li Yao described her understanding of sweet potato cultivation in great detail. Although it sounded fantastical, Song County Magistrate found it very logical.
Gradually their conversation drifted, from growing sweet potatoes to comparing north and south customs and anecdotes.
Song County Magistrate gradually realized that this rural housewife seemed to know more than he did.
He suddenly felt rather disoriented, as if he was the country bumpkin who had lived in the village his whole life without seeing the world!
