20demayo Chapter 126 Trial Push
Chapter 126 Trial Push
Although very curious about what had happened to Prince Jing and the others in the mountains, Li Xiaonuan heeded Wei Yu's warning and obediently stayed in the village, encouraging the entire village to plant chili peppers.
In the square in front of the ancestral hall in the old Zhoucun village, Li Xiaonuan stood in the middle of the crowd and explained with difficulty: "I know that you don't want to believe me. But I just want to say that anyone who is willing to take risks with the Li family today will be given priority if the Li family has the opportunity to introduce new crops in the future."
As she spoke, Li Xiaonuan pointed to the chili seeds and chili seedlings in front of her and continued, "Since all I got were chili seeds, I can't show you the whole chilies. Here are a few chili seedlings. See if you'd like to plant them in the vegetable garden or along the edge of the field."
"I'm not asking you to grow a lot, because new varieties that haven't been released yet have a low chance of selling. Besides, the taste of this chili is quite magical. Some people who haven't tried it before won't even think about eating it a second time. So, whether you want to grow it or not is up to you."
As soon as Li Xiaonuan finished speaking, many families turned around and left. They grumbled as they went, "If it's such a thing, how can they have the nerve to ask the whole village to plant it? I really don't know if this family is too carefree or just plain stupid."
"Exactly. They know they're no good, yet they go to all that trouble to have the village head and clan chief intervene. If you ask me, there's not a single person in the Li family who can take charge. If it were me, I definitely wouldn't let Li Xiaonuan, a daughter who's been rejected twice, speak up."
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After most of the people who were supposed to leave had left, Li Xiaonuan spoke again: "Alright, those who are left must be families interested in chili peppers. Since you want to know what chili peppers taste like, I will satisfy your desire."
As she spoke, Li Xiaonuan pulled out a small packet of dried chilies from a bag of chili seeds. The dried chilies were cut into sections. This was an unexpected surprise she received when she untied the sack of chili seeds.
She took out a handful and passed them around: "Chili peppers, as the name suggests, are spicy. But they're different from the spiciness of ginger. You can break off a little to try, but don't be greedy. After all, trying chili peppers for the first time isn't a good experience."
Among those people, there were indeed a few daring ones who broke off chilies and put them in their mouths. At first, they felt nothing at all. But as the chili skin melted and swirled in their mouths, the spiciness kicked in.
Fortunately, many people could tolerate the spiciness. Only a very few people couldn't stand the burning sensation and quickly went to find water. Seeing this, those who hadn't tried the chili secretly rejoiced.
After tasting the uncooked chili peppers, she visited several more households. Seeing that there were fewer people, Li Xiaonuan was satisfied. After all, leading the entire village to grow chili peppers was her initial idea, and it was very unrealistic. If something unexpected happened, the Li family would be in dire straits.
Since there are fewer people, I'll stir-fry a few dishes with chili peppers for everyone to try. Li Xiaonuan's favorite dish is pickled fish. Before, without chili peppers, no matter how she cooked it, it always felt like something was missing. Now, she can make an authentic pickled fish dish.
Besides the sauerkraut fish, there was also a spicy tofu dish and a Kung Pao chicken dish. Li Xiaonuan had even asked Xiaoyang to buy three chickens specifically for this dish. Thanks to the spiciness of the dried chilies, both dishes turned out quite successfully.
As soon as the dishes were served, those who remained couldn't help but sniff. Li Xiaonuan invited everyone to sit around the table and try them. Everyone looked nervously at the colorful, fragrant, and delicious dishes on the table, hesitant to touch them.
Xiao Yang didn't mind, because Li Xiaonuan had cooked these dishes at home before, and the Li family had become quite familiar with the spiciness these past few days, finding it increasingly delicious. Only the old lady in the family couldn't get used to spicy food. Even Xiao Jun now loved dishes made with chili peppers and kept urging Li Xiaonuan to grow some.
Seeing Xiao Yang pick up his chopsticks and eat with relish, even though he was slurping a bit, he was clearly enjoying his meal. Those who had previously tried the dried chili peppers also started eating.
Once the food entered their mouths, those people couldn't stop eating, even while sipping water. Seeing this, others boldly stepped forward to pick up food and start eating, and they soon discovered how delicious it was.
When everyone stopped slurping, only the plates of food remained on the table. Li Xiaonuan offered everyone some cool boiled water to soothe the spiciness. Once they had stopped complaining about the spiciness, Li Xiaonuan brought out the same dishes again. This time, however, she didn't add any chili peppers.
Upon hearing that these dishes were made in the same way, except without chili peppers, everyone tried them. After tasting them, some people thought the ones without chili peppers tasted better, but that was only a minority opinion.
In the end, the nine remaining households all said they wanted to plant chili peppers with Li Xiaonuan. Of course, the village head had said beforehand that he would take the lead. So, including Aunt Zhou's family and a few others, there were quite a few households willing to plant chili peppers. There were as many as fifteen households in total.
Li Xiaonuan was quite happy that she had finally managed to promote the chili peppers. While chatting with the village head and the others, she inadvertently mentioned her plan for a secluded paradise. At first, the village head, like everyone else, genuinely thought Li Xiaonuan was daydreaming.
As she went on and on, the village head finally began to understand. He curiously inquired about Li Xiaonuan's other plans. Several elders on the other side also stopped their casual conversation and listened intently.
"Sigh, that's all for now. I've been busy with the chili peppers lately and haven't been able to make any further plans. But I think we can make use of the ancestral hall, the land god temple, the mountain god temple, and the river god temple in Jiuzhou Village," Li Xiaonuan said as she thought.
Upon hearing this, the clan chief asked, "What do you plan to do with those temples?"
Li Xiaonuan thought for a moment and said, "A temple must have its purpose, that's why the village built it. Over the years, those who have come to the temple to pray must have had their wishes fulfilled. If we exaggerate and spread those stories, won't there be even fewer people coming to the temple to pray in the future?"
The village head asked seriously, "Are we going to charge incense money like Wutong Temple?"
Li Xiaonuan shook her head and said, "That's not necessary. Think about it, we're not a proper temple, so how can we ask people for incense money? But if you want to worship different gods, you definitely need to use different methods, right?"
The other elders then asked, "What different method?"
Li Xiaonuan pondered for a moment, then made up a story: "For example, when we worship the Earth God at the temple, besides offering mundane things like chickens, ducks, and fish, we can also create a field or plot of land next to the statue of the Earth God that can be cultivated. Everyone who comes to pray must cultivate it. But each time they cultivate it, they have to pay money."
"For example, when worshipping at the river god temple, you can ask them to buy some fresh river fish or turtles at the temple and release them into the river to show their sincerity in their prayers."
After hearing Li Xiaonuan give these two examples, everyone's thinking was opened up. They brainstormed and came up with quite a few good ideas.