After the family split up, my stepmother and scumbag father begged me to come home.

She put the cassava into her basket, pressed it down with her hands, and stacked it together with the wild vegetables and bird eggs.

The basket was already full and heavy. She tried to lift it up, but the straps dug into her shoulders and hurt a little.

"That's enough, let's go back," she said.

Ding Xiaohu and Lin Yulong followed behind, walking a little slower than when they came.

It's not because I'm tired.

I'm unhappy.

Ding Xiaohu barely spoke the entire way, which is unusual for him.

When he walks down the street, his mouth is never still; he's always talking about this and that, chattering away like a sparrow.

This time, however, he just walked with his head down, occasionally kicking a small pebble on the road and watching it roll into the grass without picking it up. Lin Yulong was even more obvious. After carefully putting the bird eggs into his basket, he kept pouting, his chin slightly tucked in, looking like a flower wilted by the sun.

Lin Qianqian walked ahead without turning around, but she could clearly feel the oppressive atmosphere emanating from the two little ones behind her.

She sighed inwardly, yet also felt a little like laughing.

She knew what they were thinking.

Aside from these "poisonous potatoes," there's nothing else to make money from today.

There was no wild game, no valuable medicinal herbs, and nothing to take to town to exchange for money.

After a long day of work, the basket was crammed full, but it was barely enough to fill our stomachs, let alone improve our lives.

The two children followed her, and although they didn't say it, they had expectations in their hearts.

The expectations weighed on them much heavier than the cassava in their baskets.

"Okay, don't be upset."

Lin Qianqian stopped and turned around to look at Ding Xiaohu and Lin Yulong.

The two little ones raised their heads at the same time, and their four eyes fell on her face like four small lamps, which were dim but still lit.

"This can also be exchanged for money."

Ding Xiaohu's eyes lit up first.

"real?"

Lin Qianqian nodded.

Lin Yulong's eyes lit up, but quickly dimmed again: "But...aren't these poisonous potatoes? Who would dare buy poisonous potatoes?"

"So we need to take care of this," Lin Qianqian said, her tone carrying a certain confidence and reassuring quality, as if she were talking about something she had already thought about.

She looked at Ding Xiaohu, then at Lin Yulong, and the corners of her mouth slowly curved up.

Do you know what you can make from cassava?

The two little ones shook their heads at the same time.

"Cassava can be made into starch," Lin Qianqian said. "Starch can be used to thicken sauces. Have you ever eaten at a banquet in town? Those dishes, the broth is thick and shiny, clinging to the meat and coating the vegetables, it looks so appetizing—that's because it's thickened with starch. Restaurants always use it, but they use cornstarch. Cassava starch is more transparent than cornstarch, so the dishes thickened with it are even more translucent."

"You can also make cassava balls," Lin Qianqian continued. "You roll cassava starch into small balls, cook them, and they're chewy and bouncy. You can put them in sugar water or milk tea—"

"Milk tea?" Lin Yulong interrupted her, looking confused. "What's milk tea?"

Lin Qianqian paused for a moment.

She almost let it slip again.

"It's... tea with milk, sugar, and glutinous rice balls," she vaguely summarized. "It's delicious."

Ding Xiaohu and Lin Yulong exchanged a glance. Neither of them had ever drunk such a thing, nor had they even heard of it.

But Lin Qianqian's description sounded so appealing—that "chewy and bouncy," that "chewy and chewy," that "delicious"—their minds had automatically conjured up a steaming, sweet bowl of something.

"Then... can it be sold for money?" Ding Xiaohu asked the most crucial question.

"Yes, we can." Lin Qianqian said decisively, "The starch can be sold to restaurants, and the dumplings can be sold in town. As long as we make them, we won't have to worry about finding buyers."

Seeing the light return to the two little ones' eyes, she felt a little relieved.

Making starch takes time, requires tools, and involves repeated washing, grinding, filtering, and settling. It's not something you can dig up today and exchange for money tomorrow.

Life isn't something you can just dig up and find gold with a hoe.