The Prime Minister’s Little Wife

Chapter 3: Sweet Potatoes

When Xu Zhizhi’s mother pushed open the door, she saw green vines covering the ground, with large brown tubers growing beneath them, still fresh with soil.

These vines and tubers occupied half of the firewood shed. There were so many of them!

By rough estimate, there must have been several hundred pounds. This was far beyond what human effort could achieve.

This had to be a divine miracle.

“Mother, these are called sweet potatoes. The seeds are the vines above. If you cut a section and plant it, it will grow a whole bunch of sweet potatoes. You can boil them in water to eat, or roast them over a fire. Let me cook a few for you to try.”

Xu Zhizhi was about to pick some sweet potatoes to cook.

She was starving, and the wild vegetable soup earlier had been unbearable.

But her mother grabbed her arm.

“Quick, kneel down and thank the immortal!”

Her second uncle also knelt down.

The two younger brothers naturally followed suit.

Xu Zhizhi had no choice but to kowtow several times.

Then she started cooking the sweet potatoes. She boiled water in a pot, washed the sweet potatoes, and placed them inside, covering the pot with a lid.

Before long, a delicious aroma filled the air.

Xu Zhizhi lifted the lid.

Everyone stared at the steaming, fragrant sweet potatoes, their mouths watering. Xu Zhizhi handed one to each person. They blew on the hot potatoes, carefully peeling off the brown skin to reveal the golden flesh inside. They held them in their hands and began eating eagerly.

“The sweet potatoes are soft, sweet, and filling. Mother, do you believe what the immortal said now?” Xu Zhizhi asked her mother.

Her mother smiled and said, “Children have their own fortunes. I won’t interfere in your matters anymore.”

At first bite, the sweet potatoes were delicious, far superior to the wild vegetable soup.

Xu Zhizhi, having eaten them often in her past life, didn’t find them particularly special.

But her two younger brothers, who had never tasted anything so good, devoured them quickly. Thankfully, Xu Zhizhi had cooked plenty, and there was still more in the pot.

Xu Zhizhi felt full after eating half a sweet potato. After finishing, she divided the sweet potato vines and tubers into three portions.

One portion went to her second uncle, another to her mother to take to her maternal family, and the last portion was kept for their own family to plant.

After dividing them, there wasn’t much left—only enough for about half an acre of land.

But since the vines could be used as seeds, they could continue planting more later.

Most of the sweet potatoes were kept for the family to eat.

With no grain at home, they couldn’t survive on wild vegetable soup every day.

After teaching her family how to plant the sweet potatoes, Xu Zhizhi’s mother and second uncle quickly left to start planting. They had to act fast, or the vines would wither.

Xu Zhizhi planted the sweet potato vines in the fertile black soil near their home. The location was convenient, and the soil was rich, perfect for growing sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes absorbed a lot of nutrients from the soil, and it was easy to fertilize them naturally without going far.

Her two younger brothers worked diligently to help.

Xu Da Niu, the older brother, said to Xu Zhizhi, “Sister, it’s fine if you don’t marry that Jin Zijun. He always looked down on our family and never treated us with respect.”

Xu Da Niu was Xu Zhizhi’s older brother, fourteen years old, thin and small but already mature.

Xu Xiao Wu, the younger brother, was only five or six and didn’t understand much, but he knew that every time Jin Zijun came to their house, he would go hungry.

Xu Zhizhi looked at her two thin brothers with pity.

She said to Xu Da Niu, “From now on, we won’t pay him any attention. We’ll eat meat every day.”

At the mention of meat, both brothers drooled. They only got to eat meat once a year, but they could never forget its taste.

They worked even harder after that.

Planting half an acre of land didn’t take long, and they finished by the afternoon.

Their mother hadn’t returned yet.

Xu Zhizhi took her brothers to roast some sweet potatoes.

To Xu Zhizhi, the roasted sweet potatoes were just okay—modern cuisine had spoiled her palate.

But for her brothers, it was the most delicious food in the world. Nothing could compare.

Xu Zhizhi didn’t have much left in her portable space. These sweet potatoes were originally meant for making dried sweet potato snacks. Otherwise, she would have given her brothers something better.

Most of the space was filled with medicinal herbs, along with some spices like chili peppers, ginger, and garlic.

The watermelon plants in her space had just started to flower.

She hadn’t tried planting the watermelon seeds before, so she wasn’t sure how they would turn out.

In a few weeks, they might have watermelons to eat.

Tomorrow, she planned to pull a ginseng root from her space and claim she had dug it up from the mountain.

She could sell it in town for money and use it to rebuild their house. The thatched-roof hut was too unsafe to live in.

By evening, Xu Zhizhi’s mother returned, beaming with joy.

As a mother, her greatest wish was for her children to succeed.

Now that an immortal was watching over Xu Zhizhi, her daughter was sure to marry well.

She walked with a spring in her step, her face glowing.

Truthfully, she hadn’t liked Jin Zijun much either. He had never been respectful to their family.

But he was the most promising young man in Qili Village.

For her daughter’s sake, she had endured.

Today, she learned that Jin Zijun had been flirting with another woman and had publicly humiliated her daughter, forcing her to apologize to that woman.

It was too much.

Jin Zijun had eaten their food, drunk their water, and relied on their family for support. He was just a candidate scholar, and there was no guarantee he would even pass the exams to become a scholar.

The immortal was right—he was an ungrateful wolf.

The engagement had to be called off.

Now, they just had to wait for the sweet potatoes to mature. Once they did, her maternal family would also have enough to eat and wouldn’t go hungry anymore. Life would only get better.

In the eyes of the villagers, this was just an excuse the Xu family had made to save face.

But Jin Zijun’s actions were indeed improper.

He was already engaged, yet he was flirting with another woman and had publicly forced Xu Zhizhi to kneel and apologize to Wang Shishi. It was too much.

Wang Shishi was staying with the Wang family, supposedly as their niece.

She even had a maid, and her demeanor and clothing resembled that of a wealthy city girl.

Perhaps her family had fallen on hard times, forcing her to seek refuge with this distant uncle.

Wang Shishi knew how to dress well, making her stand out like a cloud among mud compared to the village girls.

She was also generous with her money. Even a starved camel is still bigger than a horse—a family in decline still had some wealth. She was clearly richer than Xu Zhizhi, and anyone would know which girl to choose.

It was no surprise that Jin Zijun had taken a liking to Wang Shishi.

No one said it openly, but everyone secretly knew Jin Zijun’s true character. He always preached about morality and righteousness, but in reality, he was nothing special.

(End of Chapter)