In the winter, when the wild wormwood had dried up, we brothers would go to the big hill in the north (a production team on the farm) to "search" for sweet potatoes. That is, we would go to the field where the production team had already dug up sweet potatoes and dig again to find the missing ones or those that had been dug up and thrown away.
They said that they were digging again, but in fact, the land where the sweet potatoes had been planted had already been dug countless times by people. As soon as a group of people left, a new group of people came to dig again. The soil in the ground was turned into fine powder. I continued to dig patiently, hoping that there would be an unexpected surprise. In the end, after a long time, I didn't even see the shadow of a sweet potato.
We were really unwilling to return empty-handed, so we picked up the thick roots of the sweet potatoes. These old roots looked like the color of the sweet potato skin, but they couldn't be boiled. When chewed, they were similar to tree roots. They were all old tendons.
After school that day, I told my brother that there was a small field of sweet potatoes next to a stream by the mountain. No one had dug them up until now. The sweet potato vines had long been killed by the frost. Maybe they didn't want them anymore. My brother almost couldn't believe that there was such a good thing, so he followed me to the mountain to take a look. Sure enough, he saw the sweet potatoes in the vegetable field that had not been dug up after the season.
The two of us brothers stood by the vegetable field and tried to guess whose family this vegetable field belonged to. Why hadn't he dug up the sweet potatoes yet? " We assumed all kinds of possibilities. Did the owner of the sweet potato field move away? Did the owner of the sweet potato field stay in the hospital? In the end, we thought that the owner of the sweet potato field was dead and would never come to dig again. Once we guessed that someone was dead, we were the first to be afraid.
Looking carefully, there were a few marks on the sweet potato field. Half of the sweet potato was exposed in the dug places, which made us even more confused. I really wanted to get the exposed sweet potato, but we didn't dare to casually enter other people's vegetable fields. We were afraid that people would misunderstand that we were stealing sweet potatoes.
We stood on the edge of the ground, unwilling to leave, but unable to guess whether the owner of the sweet potato field still wanted these sweet potatoes or not, so we dawdled on the edge of the ground.
Suddenly, I seemed to understand why the sweet potatoes weren't dug. Was it because the vegetable field was near the stream and the soil was too moist, causing the sweet potatoes to go bad? Thinking of this, I jumped into the vegetable field without hesitation. I pulled out the half of the sweet potato and broke it with force. Sure enough, the sweet potato was a little black-hearted (black-hearted sweet potato had a bitter taste). When brother saw it, he said,"The owner of the vegetable field must have dug out a few sweet potatoes and didn't want them when he saw the black-hearted sweet potato." He tried to take a bite of the sweet potato. It was really bitter and couldn't be swallowed.
Seeing that these sweet potatoes could not be eaten, it was really a pity. I grabbed the sweet potatoes from my brother's hands and took a few bites. I realized that the black heart of the sweet potatoes was gone. It was not bitter anymore. It turned out that the sweet potatoes were only partially spoiled. As long as the black heart was removed, the rest could be eaten.
We were so happy that we immediately went home to get a hoe and started digging. We only dug one row and it was already a basket full. Seeing so many sweet potatoes, we were worried that people would say that we stole them. These sweet potatoes looked normal and did not look like bad sweet potatoes at all.
We didn't dare to continue digging, so we carried the sweet potatoes in the basket and walked home. As expected, someone saw my brother and I carrying a basket of sweet potatoes on the road and said that we stole it. If we explain, it's because they don't want it. However, that person did not believe him and wanted to call the others on the road to come and see.
My brother and I panicked. We were most afraid that people would say that we were thieves. We quickly begged him not to shout and took out a sweet potato to show that person to prove that what we said was true. However, after breaking the sweet potato, we didn't see the black heart. My brother and I were stunned. What was going on? That person was even more enthusiastic and insisted on asking everyone to come and see. I quickly grabbed another sweet potato and broke it open. This sweet potato was black-hearted. The person who stopped us saw it and stopped talking.
When we got home, we used a knife to cut all the sweet potatoes. It turned out that one-third of the sweet potatoes were not black-hearted, but completely good. Two-thirds of the sweet potatoes with black hearts were not the entire sweet potato with black hearts. The part with black hearts removed could still be eaten.
When we saw the situation of the sweet potatoes, we began to hesitate again. These sweet potatoes were originally edible by the owner of the vegetable field. Was it appropriate for us to dig them up and bring them back? The next day after school, my brother and I went to the sweet potato field to see if anyone had come to dig the sweet potatoes. Seeing that no one had come to dig, we were relieved.
We only dug one ridge every day and didn't dig too much to see if we could meet the owner of the vegetable field. However, the owner of the vegetable field never showed up. When we went to dig the last ridge, we met the owner of the vegetable field. He was a small cadre in the mine. He didn't have any family members in the mine. He had nothing to do, so he opened up a wasteland near the mountain and planted sweet potatoes. He didn't expect the sweet potatoes to have black hearts, so he threw them in the ground and didn't dig them up. When he was planning to turn over the land to plant other vegetables, he saw us brothers digging his sweet potatoes. He knew that our family was short of food, so he deliberately did not show up and let us dig. This way, we would not be embarrassed when we saw him. It was also a good opportunity to borrow our strength to help him turn over the land.
He planted red-skinned, white-heart sweet potatoes, which were very crispy and especially suitable for eating raw. After cooking, they were not as delicious as ordinary sweet potatoes with high starch content. These sweet potatoes really let us eat happily for a few days.
After getting the advantage of picking up sweet potatoes, I preferred to wander around the vegetable fields on the mountainside. I didn't want to steal other people's vegetables, but I hoped to encounter some unexpected gains. It was really a coincidence. One day, I held a small bamboo stick in my hand and walked along the mountainside. As I walked, I knocked on the withered grass and shrubs on the mountainside. I saw many dried pumpkin vines wrapped around a big thorny plant (Sakura laevigata). I suddenly wondered if there would be some missing pumpkin in this big thorny plant. I stopped and picked up the dried pumpkin vines one by one with a bamboo stick to see if there would be any new discoveries. When I was picking up a pumpkin vine, I felt that the bamboo stick in my hand was very heavy, as if the pumpkin vine was tripped by something. I was pleasantly surprised and pulled the pumpkin vine out with both hands. It still felt heavy, as if I couldn't pull it anymore. If I pulled it again, it would break. I knocked down the grass on the edge of the thorny canopy with the bamboo stick and opened a gap under the thorny canopy. I looked inside. Oh my God. There was really a big old pumpkin lying under the thorny canopy. I was very happy. I looked around and saw that there was no one. From the opening, I stretched out my hand and pulled the pumpkin out. This old pumpkin, because of a long time, had dried up and did not have much moisture. However, at a glance, I knew that this was the kind of pink and sweet pumpkin. The pumpkin harvest season had passed two months, but this pumpkin was hidden under the thorny canopy. It was not discovered by the person who planted it. It was left here.
I didn't dare to take the pumpkin back. If the owner of the vegetable field knew that I found a big pumpkin next to his vegetable field, he would definitely come looking for me. I pushed the pumpkin under the thorny canopy again to hide, and waited there until it was dark before taking it home.
The evening in winter was very gloomy. Like a thief, I took off my coat and wrapped the pumpkin tightly. I picked it up and walked home. My heart was beating wildly along the way, afraid that I would meet someone familiar. When I saw someone, I pretended to easily hold the pumpkin with one arm, trying to make people think that I didn't take anything heavy. Finally, I successfully brought the pumpkin home without being seen. To this day, I still don't fully understand why I had such a strong desire to possess this pumpkin at that time, and why I really took the pumpkin home like a thief.
Dad saw me carrying a big pumpkin back and his face immediately darkened. He went up to ask where it came from. He was sure that I stole it and couldn't have picked up such a big pumpkin. When he heard me tell him the whole story, he fiercely said," You can't steal. No matter how hungry we are, we won't be thieves." But the pumpkin still stayed at my house.
His mother didn't go out to dig for wild vegetables, but one day, for some reason, when he came back from washing clothes by the stream, he actually dug up some roots of plants that looked like taro leaves by the roadside. She thought it was taro, so she went home to peel it and prepare to cook it. However, just as she peeled a piece of root, she felt a sharp pain and numbness on the back of her hand. She thought, why is this taro so numb? She had never felt this numb when she ate taro before. She actually put the peeled root in her hand into her mouth and tasted it. Her tongue, mouth, and throat were immediately numb. She could not make a sound, and her saliva could not stop flowing. This frightened her and she quickly rinsed her mouth with water. However, the numbness became more and more serious. She began to feel nauseous, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
When we got home, she was lying on the bed and almost couldn't take it. We didn't know what had happened. We only saw her repeatedly pointing at the taro on the ground. Only then did we know that she had eaten something poisonous by mistake.
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