Chapter Seventeen: The Birth of Youfen

  Three days later, the sweet potatoes had grown four buds, and Wang Kuang was very satisfied. With these four buds, if they were planted well in autumn, they would be able to harvest several kilograms of sweet potatoes. If they were cultivated early next year, they could cut the sweet potato vines into segments for asexual propagation, which should be enough to plant an acre of land. This way, they could at least harvest several hundred kilograms of sweet potatoes. However, since it was late this year, Wang Kuang did not plan to give up on using the method of cutting vines for asexual propagation, but he would have to wait until the sweet potato vines had branched out before doing so. If it worked well, that would be best; if not, there would be no loss either.

  After a few more days, the sweet potato seedlings had already grown several leaves, and Sun Er had finished tidying up the ground in the courtyard. Wang Kuang chose an evening to cut the sprouted sweet potatoes into several pieces, each with a seedling on it, and planted them in the ground, slightly pressing down the mud around the seedlings and watering them. He subconsciously felt that if he transplanted during the day, the seedlings might be scorched to death. Transplanting in the evening avoided the strong sun, yet still had some light, allowing for photosynthesis, which should be safer.

  Worried that the sun would be too big the next day and scorch the sweet potato seedlings to death. Wang Kuang thought for a moment, feeling that it was still necessary to be safe, so he called Sun Er again to cut a few bamboo sticks and set up a frame over the sweet potato seedlings, just in case the sun got too strong, they could cover them with a grass mat.

  In the following days, Wang Kuang stayed in the guest house after eating, occasionally returning to the yard to check on the sweet potatoes. He was eager for them to grow quickly and take root. Sun Er and others noticed that Wang Kuang was so attentive to these small seedlings and vaguely understood that they were precious. Therefore, when they had time, they would often come to help Wang Kuang look after them. After all, they were all from poor families and knew more about farming than Wang Kuang. Although they had never seen or planted sweet potatoes before, weren't they still crops? Under everyone's care, the four sweet potato seedlings grew very well and soon branched out.

  Even Wang Xian now immediately returned to the yard after school to watch the sweet potatoes, instead of writing an essay in the classroom as usual. This made the old master so disappointed that he said that his stubbornness had not changed. The situation continued until the old master could no longer bear it and reported it to Sun Zhanggui, who scolded Wang Xian a few times after learning about it, only then did he change his ways.

  It wasn't until the sweet potatoes had sprouted a lot that Wang Kuang began to divide them. He cut more than 20 segments of vines with buds and buried them in the ground, still carefully nurturing them. This move was unanimously opposed by everyone at the inn. No one had ever seen anything like it before. What if they accidentally killed those four mother vines? Everyone had watched the sweet potatoes grow up, and in their hearts, they had already placed the sweet potatoes in a very important position, treating them like their own children. However, everyone also knew that Wang Kuang was very capable, so he must have his reasons for doing this, even if they couldn't help but mutter to themselves.

  Unexpectedly, several days later, more than 20 segments of sweet potato vines had survived and were growing well. Everyone was amazed and praised Wang Dalang's skills, wondering how he could be so confident. It seemed that his daily habit of sitting in front of the hall listening to customers bragging wasn't a waste of time after all.

  Wang Kuang was delighted to see that more than a dozen had survived and from then on, he took even better care of them. Although he knew that sweet potatoes were easy to grow, this was the first batch in Jian'an after all, and if something went wrong, the loss would be huge, at least they would have to wait another year. During this time, Sun Ming also came to visit several times, and he too wanted to know how magical the mountain powder in Wang Dalang's mouth would be if the sweet potatoes were successfully grown. He even called over the farmer who had been selected to grow sweet potatoes next year, to help Wang Kuang with tasks such as weeding and watering, so that they would be familiar with it when the time came next year.

  Wang Juan was busy taking care of the sweet potatoes on one side, while also listening to the guests' boasts without interruption. To outsiders, it seemed that apart from the business getting better and better every day, nothing else had changed at Fuli Inn. However, they didn't know that a stormy food revolution was about to arrive, and it would be directed by this young boy who often smiled and listened to their boasts, occasionally sending over a pot of wine.

  Wang Juan himself knew the importance of mountain powder, and it can be said that in later generations' diet, mountain powder played an extremely important role. Its position in Chinese cuisine is far from being replaced by later-emerging potato starch and mung bean starch. With mountain powder, meat can be coated with a sauce, and the soup can be made to stick better to the dishes. The effect of mountain powder is much better than that of potato starch; at the same time, sweet potato noodles are much more delicious than potato starch noodles. Therefore, in Minbei dialect, mountain powder is also called "you fen", meaning "friend of dishes". In later generations, due to miscommunication, mountain powder was mistakenly called "sheng fen" and became a general term for other starches including potato starch. However, the term "you fen" has always referred specifically to sweet potato starch.

  Here, the Minbei dialect is very grateful to later generations, retaining a large number of ancient words. For example, in the Minbei dialect, a daughter-in-law is called "new wife", a son-in-law is called "fine husband", father is called "dà" (big), mother is called "nǎi" (milk), and many people call their parents "ā gē, ā jiě".

  When it comes to the Minbei dialect, I must express my discontent with those so-called linguists who define Minbei dialect as a language system represented by Fuzhou dialect. However, people from Minbei all know that Fuzhou dialect and Minbei dialect are absolutely worlds apart and have no common ground at all. On the contrary, Fuzhou dialect is closer to Minnan dialect than to Minbei dialect. I really don't know how they conducted their "research" in the first place. In my opinion, Fuzhou dialect should be an independent system and be classified under the Mindong language branch. If it has to be classified under other categories, it would be more reasonable to classify it under the Minnan language branch rather than the Minbei language branch.

  In the autumn of the second year of Zhenguan, a heavy stroke was destined to be left in the history of diet. Wang Jing collected more than 150 kilograms of sweet potatoes this year, although it was not the first batch of sweet potatoes grown in the Tang Dynasty, but Wang Jing was the first person to make noodles with sweet potatoes (from now on, mountain flour will be called Youfen).

  Apart from leaving a dozen or so kilograms of storage for next year's sprouting, Wang Kuang had the rest of the sweet potatoes crushed and mixed with water by Zhu Si Niangzi to make a paste. After filtering out the sediment and natural evaporation for several days, it became Youfen powder. Over 140 kilograms of sweet potatoes made more than a dozen kilograms of Youfen powder, and there was also a layer of grayish-black impurities on top during sedimentation. Wang Kuang couldn't bear to throw them away and used water to filter them again, continuing the sedimentation process, and unexpectedly obtained another kilogram or so. Fortunately, Wang Kuang had seen his elder brother make Youfen powder once when he was a child, so he still had some impression in his mind; otherwise, he would be at a loss.

  That night, Wang Juan personally cooked a dish of braised pork belly with sweet potato starch and a bowl of tofu, watercress soup with sweet potato starch sauce. After tasting these two dishes, Wang Juan finally understood why Xiao Dong's eyes lit up when he saw the sweet potatoes. It turned out that the braised pork belly coated with sweet potato starch was both tender and crispy, and the taste of that first bite still made Wang Juan nostalgic even in old age.

  That autumn, guests who came to eat at the Rich Inn discovered that many of the dishes had changed in appearance. The soups were thick and rich, unlike the clear broths of before. When eaten, they made a satisfying sound, and the stir-fried lamb and fish slices seemed to be coated with something, shining and translucent, looking delicious. Word spread quickly, and soon the whole city of Jian'an knew that the Rich Inn's food had a unique flavor and good texture, making it a must-try. Other inns sent people to investigate, thinking that they used flour as a coating, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't replicate it, and could only watch as the Rich Inn raked in the money.

  Fortunately, Wang Kuang did not have the intention of keeping it private. He knew that after a certain film company invented the foolproof camera and shared its technology, they made a fortune by specializing in film development. Under his explanation, Sun Mingqian decided to release the recipe for the dish the following year, but only controlled the supply of Youfen (a type of flour). However, this year's Youfen was only enough for their own inn's use and couldn't be sold to others. Kuang Da, who brought sweet potatoes, was also silenced with a large sum of money. Outsiders did not know how the "Youfen" used in Fuli Inn was made.

  After witnessing the miracle of Youfen, Sun Mingqian felt that the previous arrangement was too insecure. He raised the walls around the land where he would plant sweet potatoes next year, making it impossible for ordinary people to see what was being planted inside. He also raised a large yellow dog and tied it to the front door. He specially selected two loyal and clever young men from his clan to guard the land. The courtyard where Zhu Si's wife lived was also expanded in scale and the walls were heightened. From then on, Youfen would be exclusively produced by Zhu Si's wife and Sun Er. Wang Kuang knew that one day, the method of making Youfen would still be studied by those with ulterior motives, but for now, being able to keep it a secret for one more day meant one more day of monopoly. Sun Mingqian also understood this point.

  From the end of autumn to the next autumn, for a whole year, Furukoma Inn can be said to change every month, and more and more famous foodies come to taste it, even foodies from neighboring counties come specially to taste it.

  Now, the Fulaiguan Inn has expanded its land area by more than double. On Wang's suggestion, the tables and doors of the inn were all brushed with tung oil, looking shiny and bright. Even the grass mats on the floor tiles were soaked in tung oil, no longer feeling damp and uncomfortable like before when it rained.

  Everyone in the Fula Inn was tight-lipped, and the whole Jian'an City was rumored that the master of Fula Inn had received guidance from a superior man, but no one knew that the superior man was actually the young boy who sat in the corner of the inn every day, smiling and listening to people's boasts.

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  Thanks to book friend zxhboy for pointing out the BUG about the yield of Youfen, it has been corrected.

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