The big yard has been open during this time, so the ingredients are still very abundant.
Liang Yuemei and Sister Yang cook together with two stoves and three stoves in the house, so the cooking speed is not slow.
Today’s lunch of steamed rice and stir-fried vegetables was mainly because Du Chunfang couldn’t eat it because it felt too hard. This time Li Jianguo brought over another bag of new rice, saying it was newly milled.
Actually, the new rice that Li Long brought back last time was not eaten much yet. The rice at this time is really fragrant. As soon as the steamed rice is boiled, the whole house is filled with the smell of rice.
People eat a lot at this time, so the portions of cooking are also large. There is a lot of oil in the kitchen here, so Liang Yuemei is willing to put in the oil. Sister Yang was a little uncomfortable at first. Seeing how much oil Liang Yuemei put in cooking, she followed suit.
"Ever since Xiaolong was able to go hunting in the mountains, my family has used more oil and meat for cooking," Liang Yuemei explained while cooking. "He said that if you use less, it won't taste good, but it's not like it's all gone.
Xiaolong Ah, I have become really capable in the past two years.”
“Yes, Uncle Li is really capable. I have never seen anyone who is more capable than him in my life.” Heartily agree with this statement.
Stir-fried pork with mushrooms, stir-fried pork with dried beans, stir-fried pork with spicy skin, plus a spicy scrambled egg.
Four dishes, plus rice soup, are very rich on the table. Li Qingxia joked:
"It's just like celebrating a festival. It smells delicious just looking at it."
Li Juan and Li Qiang were hungry for a long time. They were already familiar with Han Fang. At this time, the three children washed their hands and helped The kitchen was very busy for a while as they were serving bowls and dishes.
The dining room in the big courtyard has a small table, so the women simply eat here and the men eat inside. Liang Yuemei and Sister Yang moved quickly and immediately divided each dish into two plates and brought one plate into the living room of the main house.
The three children followed them to eat in the dining room, the women chatted about home affairs, and the four grown men also chatted while eating in the living room.
“There are a lot of people buying agricultural supplies this autumn.” Gu Boyuan already had his own purchasing channels. He sighed while eating, “With this package of output delivered to each household, everyone is really motivated to farm. That’s it. There are not enough seeds to sell.”
"That's not easy. There will be more melons in our team next year, and some of the melon seeds can be sold to you." Li Jianguo is somewhat business-minded and said while eating, "Now your agricultural supplies store knows There are more and more people, and more and more people know that you sell seeds. Naturally, people will come here next autumn. Asked. "
"That's good." Gu Boyuan nodded, "It's good for both sides."
"In fact, we can also make some land for planting seeds, but it's just troublesome. Some." Li Long thought that there were more people growing food now, but the self-sufficiency rate in food was actually enough.
What’s not enough is the vegetables. At present, there are still relatively few people who specialize in growing vegetables. In the future, villagers in villages with relatively small plots around the county will begin to switch from growing grain to growing vegetables, and finally begin to build greenhouses on a large scale.
But growing vegetables on an initial scale requires seeds. For example, shelf-stable vegetables such as bamboo shoots and carrots are actually more popular at this time.
But there are simply not enough seeds on the market for those who want to grow vegetables.
The only troublesome thing about these seeds is that except for bamboo shoots, which can produce seeds in the same year, the others take two years. Plant them in the first year, dig them out in autumn and bury them in the sand of the vegetable cellar. In the spring of the second year, dig them out again and use them as seeds, then plant them in the ground and wait for the seeds to form in autumn.
The same is true for beets, so it is more troublesome.
In the past, Li Long had thought that this was a way to develop the economy, but the time period for collecting benefits was too long.
Li Jianguo listened to this matter, slowly thinking about it, and then said:
"You can try it with a small plot of land. It's not feasible to plan a large area."
"You can also plant sunflowers." Li Long continued to analyze, "Isn't there a private roaster in Qiuli who came to look for goods? He doesn't Maybe you just need to beat melon seeds? You must also need flower seeds, right?”
In later generations, sunflower seeds were more common on the market, and then came the sunflower seeds, which are actually special white sunflower seeds, which are also good.
It’s just that the current white sunflower seeds are about the same size as the flower sunflower seeds, and at this stage, everyone is not able to accept the skinny appearance of the horse tooth melon seeds. They feel that there are too few kernels to be worthwhile.
They analyzed it while eating. Soon, the dishes were eaten and the rice in the bowl was also finished.
Two years ago, when eating, we had less food and more food. We needed to eat more and eat less food. This situation no longer exists. Even a few children eat slowly, and there is no shortage of food without fighting over it.
It looks good.
The three children are very well-behaved, so Liang Yuemei, Sister Yang and Gu Xiaoxia are all very happy to see them.
After eating and chatting for a while, Li Jianguo and the others went back. After Li Long rested for a while, he put a sheep on the tractor, drove to the bank to withdraw some money, and then went Li Juan’s grandfather Liang Donglou’s village.
The kitchen has been tidied up. Han Fang asked Sister Yang to go and review her homework. She and Gu Xiaoxia packed the things that Li Jianguo and the others had brought.
Rice, noodles, various dried vegetables, eggs, dried fish, etc.
“Her aunt, your parents-in-law are so kind to you.” Sister Yang sighed sincerely as she packed away:
“Look at the things sent here, they are all real. . Today I was talking to his uncle’s sister-in-law while we were cooking. She praised you so much and was worried that you might have some problems while you were pregnant..."
"Sister-in-law..." Gu Xiaoxia stopped what she was doing and said slowly, "Actually, I remember when I was a child, I almost called my eldest sister-in-law mom -
My dad and eldest brother have a very good relationship. Li Long was not formal at that time My dad took me to my sister-in-law’s house, and she took me aside and told me things I should pay attention to..."
Although Liang Xiaoxia did not continue speaking, Sister Yang could understand what she wanted to say.
The two families knew each other well when their children were young, and their relationship has always been good. Later, when they got married, their relationship became even better, so it became even better.
"I really envy you." Sister Yang looked envious, "You have a good father, a good man, and good parents-in-law..."
"Sister Yang, you Where is your family? Your parents-in-law..."
"Hey, stop talking." Sister Yang shook her head, "Home...there are good ones back home, but I don't sell them. If it were better, I wouldn't take Xiaofang to Northern Xinjiang to look for her. Her father.”
Gu Xiaoxia had no impression of staying in her hometown and didn't understand the situation there.
It is real that parents will destroy their children's beautiful marriages in order to let their children take care of themselves and provide for them in old age, and the kind of parents-in-law and parents-in-law who hide the situation of their sons or daughters in order to get more money Parents also exist.
"What about your mother's family?" Gu Xiaoxia thought to herself, she must have a good one, right?
"I... have been an orphan since I was a child. I grew up with my grandparents. My grandparents passed away a few years ago." Sister Yang's expression was very calm when she spoke. She had accepted this situation calmly. past.
Gu Xiaoxia was stunned for a moment. She really didn't expect Sister Yang's life experience to be so... pitiable.
"Fortunately, Xiaofang's father was kind to me. When he was here, I felt that I was living a pretty good life. But my family didn't have much land and a large population, so we didn't have enough to eat, so he followed others to northern Xinjiang. Who knows..."
Gu Xiaoxia almost knew or guessed what happened next.
She couldn't help but said:
"Don't go back in the future. Find Brother Han later and ask him to register your household registration and see how it is in northern Xinjiang compared to your hometown. Strong.”
< br>"That's right!" Sister Yang really laughed when she heard Gu Xiaoxia say this, "The life here is so good. Of course, it's also thanks to her uncle, otherwise my mother and I don't know where to be in the cold at this time. ”
...
Li Long didn't know what the women were discussing. He drove his tractor to the door of Liang Donglou's house.
Although Li Long has been here more than once, the sound of tractors still makes many people come out to watch, just like when a car enters the village ten years later, people will come out to see whose relatives it is. car.
Liang Wenyu had heard the sound of the tractor a long time ago. When he came out and saw it was Li Long, he immediately opened the door with a smile and let the tractor drive into the yard.
The snow in the yard is swept cleanly, and things are arranged neatly, which is neater than my elder brother’s house.
To be honest, Li Long actually wanted to complain about this comparison. Both the eldest brother and sister-in-law would rather work than clean up the house, so the Li family's yard is barely clean, and it is a bit difficult to say it is tidy.
Of course, there is no problem in putting the basic things in place, but if you look at the vacant house, you will know that there are piles of things there, not as neat as the plan here.
The tractor stalled, Li Long got out of the car, and Liang Donglou and Chen Xiuzhu also walked out of the house.
"Why is Xiaolong here?" Liang Donglou asked, "Come in and warm yourself up."
"Okay." Li Long went to the cart and picked up the sheep. He came out and said, "This is a sheep that I got from the mountains. My elder brother took theirs away. I had nothing to do, so I brought it to you."
"Hey, Xiaolong, please go back and sort out these things. My family is obsessed with it." Liang Donglou knew he couldn't refuse, so he joked.
"If Uncle Liang hadn't sent things to my eldest brother and sister-in-law a few years ago, I would still be hungry." Li Long also said with a smile, "Compared with that, what does this mean?" This is the icing on the cake at most, and that is the real help in times of need.
“I keep mentioning this all the time. What did we send back then? It was just some coarse grains.”
“People could survive in those days.”
Yang Kelangzi was placed in the free house. An iron hook hung from the beam on the roof, and Li Long threaded the leg of the lamb on the hook. Liang Wenyu wanted to help, but Li Long completed the trick easily.
"Xiaolong, you are really strong." Liang Wenyu was a little surprised. This sheep weighed more than 20 kilograms. Li Long raised one hand almost to the top of his head, and the other hand I had to use an iron hook to pierce the frozen meat, and it went in easily!
"Hey, just practice if you have nothing to do." Li Long joked.
The mutton is hung in the air because there are many rats here and they are afraid of being bitten.
Right now, they are just domestic rats. In a dozen years, the exchange and transportation of materials between the mouth and the mainland will become more frequent. The trains carrying goods will bring the big black rats from the mainland, and soon they will be here Overflowing.
There are many small rats here. Many people in the countryside use rat poison, and some dogs and cats die after eating poisonous rats.
These large mice are not afraid of people, nor are they afraid of cats and dogs. They even dare to confront people and cats and dogs.
Most of the pet dogs and cats raised in the city are no match for this rat, and will be scared away. There was a time when civet cats were very rare in the countryside, and these rats were particularly rampant.
There is no other way. In order to protect their food and items, rural people began to use large mouse traps. Ordinary mouse traps are completely useless.
Of course, the sticky mouse board used to stick to house mice in the short video is not very useful.
Fortunately, the number of civet cats gradually increased again. After all, there were fewer people growing food, there were more natural enemies of mice, and there was less food - small mice could even be food for big mice. Therefore, with more civet cats, the ecology slowly improved. balance.
After hanging the mutton, the two of them entered the room. Chen Xiuzhu had already poured the tea.
"How is Xiaolong doing lately?" Liang Donglou asked.
“It’s okay, my wife is pregnant. I went into the mountains some time ago to deliver some food and daily necessities to my herdsmen friends who were returning from the farm. They brought me some skins and mutton.”
Li Long did not bring leather this time. After all, leather is of little use to the people of Northern Xinjiang these days. The biggest use is to sell it for money.
In Li Long's opinion, for a long time, people here in Ma County have been somewhat disenchanted with leather clothing products, including fur.
In the wild, without protection laws, we hunt them, firstly, to make money by selling their skins, and secondly, to eat their meat.
Later the leather became worthless, so no one beat it. By the 1920s, water rats, also known as muskrats, began to overrun Xiaohaizi. Why? That is, there is more life and less death. If the locals don't fight them, they have no natural enemies in the water.
"Then you must accompany your wife well later." Chen Xiuzhu said.
"Well, I basically won't go out in winter," Li Long said. "I don't plan to go to militia training. This period is just for rest."
After chatting about home affairs, Li Long started to talk about the main topic.
"Uncle Liang, I want to say something to see if you are willing."
Liang Donglou said:
"You say."
“In the summer, I went to Kuitun to get a harvester specifically for cutting wheat.”
"I know about this. Your sister-in-law told me when she brought melon seeds. You can make a lot of money, right?" Liang Donglou said with a smile.
Liang Wenyu looked envious. At the moment, he was still using the carriage, number 76 brought over by his sister-in-law.
Who doesn’t want to drive a tractor?
"I make a lot of money. In one summer and one wheat season, I earn almost as much as a tractor." Li Long said, "It's just a bit harder."
"Hey, so much? "This time even Liang Donglou was surprised, "How many can there be?"
"Yes." Li Long said, "Look, a tractor with a harvester can cut 150 acres of wheat a day. Two pieces per acre is three hundred yuan..."
"So many?" This time it was Liang Wenyu who was exclaiming.
“This is because the tractor cannot be used all the time, otherwise the engine will not be able to withstand it.” Li Long said, “Neither can humans, it is too hot and cannot be exposed to the sun.”
“Three hundred a day, One month..."
"You can't keep cutting like this. If you're close, it's fine. If you're far, you can cut 80 to 100 acres in one day, or even less, if you add the road." Li Long said, "It's even less. Excluding the cost of gas, luckily it’s cheap now.”
"That's quite a lot." Liang Donglou nodded, and then asked:
"What are your plans? Are you going to come here to cut wheat next year? That's no problem, let Wen Jade can just introduce it to you.”
“No, no. No." Seeing that Liang Donglou misunderstood what he meant, Li Long said, "My idea is that I will lend Wen Yu a sum of money and let him buy a tractor and a harvester, and then the wheat from the commune here will be the best. He came to cut it.”
“What?” Liang Wenyu was confused.
Such a good thing...is it my turn?
"Then you...then what are you trying to do?" Liang Donglou was stunned for several seconds before sighing:
"I have done all this making money, so you...well, I I know, look, if you harvest wheat for two dollars, how about I give you one dollar? Of course, you still have to pay for the tractor and harvester."
Liang Donglou. You don’t want to lose your heart when making money.
Li Long said hurriedly:
"No, no, no, that's not what I meant. In fact, when I return to the team tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, I plan to do this for my team members, but Wen Yu No. We are our own people. What I think is that it is better to let others do this work. We can obviously make this money, so why not?”
"That won't work, then I can't take advantage of you in vain." Liang Wenyu couldn't stand it at first, "Whatever happens to your team, we will do the same."
"Can it be the same? Those people on the team will do the same. We are outsiders, but we are our own people." Li Long stopped:
"Wenyu, I don't lack the money. I just thought, if I have some money here, my elder brother's development will be good. Uncle Liang and you are not on my team, so I can't just ignore it, right?"< br>
Let’s stop talking about this, the matter is basically settled like this.
Li Long left five thousand yuan to Liang Wenyu, and he will deliver the harvester when the time comes.
After Li Long left, the Liang family looked at the five thousand yuan and didn't want to speak.
"Dad, I plan to buy a tractor when the time comes. I still have to share some of the money I make from harvesting wheat with Li Long." Liang Wenyu said suddenly. He and Li Long no longer need to call each other brother, and they are used to it.
“Well, that’s the truth.” Chen Xiuzhu was the first to agree.
"I'm afraid he won't accept it." Liang Donglou looked further. Currently, no one in the team can afford a tractor, mainly because the production team has very little land and currently there are no commercial crops that can be grown.
Next year I will grow melons, buy a tractor and use a harvester, and I will be far ahead of ordinary families.
If this continues, as long as you keep it up, you will become richer and richer in the village and always occupy a leading position.
I never thought that Li Long would be so capable.
“Go, cut off a leg of that sheep and give it to your second sister.” Liang Donglou suddenly said to Liang Wenyu.
"Then this money, this tractor..."
"Buy it in the spring next year." Liang Donglou said, "Let your mother collect the money first. The tractor will not be used in winter and will break easily. . I bought it in the spring. If you don’t mind, go and learn from Li Long, otherwise it will be a joke.”
Liang Wenyu didn't object to this at all. After all, the young man still had some vanity. He went to cut the leg of lamb, but he was already thinking in his mind that if he drives a tractor next year, the people in the team will look at him completely differently. (End of this chapter)