Chapter 107: Pulling Earth to Pave the Floor
Many people know about Zhou Yang’s family selling food.
Originally everyone thought that Zhou Yang came home because he thought of a way to make money, but unexpectedly it was Zhang An who gave him the idea.
“There are quite a lot of people buying food these two days. My dad and I have to go twice a day to pick out enough to sell.”
Zhou Yang loaded the dug food into the carriage. Loess, while talking to Zhang An.
Speaking of this, Zhou Yang was very excited. They sell rice for five yuan a piece, three dishes at a time, a big bowl of rice. Five yuan seems like a lot, but what Zhang An said is too much. By the way, five dollars is nothing to these people.
When there were only a dozen people buying food at the beginning, Zhou Yang’s family was already very satisfied.
Now more than 20 people come to buy it every day, and their home can sell for more than 100 yuan a day, which was something they could not even imagine before.
Even excluding costs, you can make seventy or eighty yuan a day.
Zhou Yang's father, Zhou Shuanglin, is thinking all day now about how happy he is that his family can earn more than two thousand a month.
"Anyway, you should pay attention to the number of people. In the past two days, everyone is relatively free, and there are many people coming. When the farming is busy in the next few days, there will be fewer people coming. At that time, you have to cook less dishes, otherwise you won't be able to sell them. ”
Zhang An thought for a while and decided to remind him, fearing that by then Zhou Yang would be used to making it every day and would prepare it in that amount every day, and it would be wasted if he couldn’t sell it.
People who come to Changqing to fish are not only fishing enthusiasts, but also some who have nothing to do at home and come here to fish.
And now the people who collect fish in the town, when they see the fish in the Changqing River, don’t even cut the price, they just collect it.
If they are lucky, they can catch a lot of money.
"Okay, I will pay attention."
I have to say that young people work quickly, and in just a while, both carriages were loaded with more than half a load of loess.
"Zhang An, give us an idea sometime and let us find something to do."
Zhang Ping told Zhang An while digging the soil, everyone listened. When Zhang Ping said this, everyone looked over.
Who doesn’t want to find something to do at home, and who doesn’t want to make money.
Seeing that Zhou Yang's family's food-selling business is doing so well, everyone would be lying if they said they weren't envious.
Many people in the village saw Zhou Yang’s house selling rice and thought about cooking it and selling it there.
But after selling it once, people stopped buying it.
The main reason is that the food they cook is not as delicious as Zhou Yang’s. People eat it once and never go back, even if it is sold cheaply.
After all, Zhou Yang has learned to cook seriously, so he must be spending money to buy delicious food.
In the end, after those people did it a few times, they found that they couldn’t sell it and stopped selling it.
"I don't have any ideas now. The millet will be harvested soon. When the crops are harvested, I will take a look. I will call you when the time comes."
No. At the meeting, two carriages were already filled with loess. Zhang Ping and Zhang Jianguo drove the carriage back to unload the soil. The remaining people stayed here to dig up the mud on the ground to facilitate loading later.
At this time, Zhang An saw someone pulling a cart of watermelons on the road. Zhang An called out to this person from a distance.
"Uncle, how do you sell this melon?"
Hearing someone ask, the middle-aged man pulling the watermelon stopped the carriage.
“One dollar a pound, my dear, this is a big green-skinned watermelon from the local melon. It’s very sweet. Do you want it?”
Zhang An actually walked to the roadside to take a look. This watermelon is not too big, maybe five or six pounds each.
But looking at the size, it is a real local sweet potato. If it is bigger, it must be a foreign sweet potato.
Local melons don’t grow very big, they are only about this size, but they have thin skin and a lot of flesh, which is very delicious, but the yield is not high. So it was eventually replaced by new varieties.
"Is this melon of yours still ripe? Don't wait until I buy it. If it's not sweet when you cut it open, I won't be able to find you."
Zhang An imitated the way adults look at melons and looked at several melons. Knock it and listen to the sound of the melon.
“My dear, the red envelopes are sweet. Whichever one you like, you can open it and see it on the spot. If it’s not red or sweet, you won’t be charged.”
The man selling the melons is obviously not interested in this. I already understood it well and told Zhang An normally.
"Okay, I'll pick a big one, but uncle, you have to open it for me. We'll eat here without a knife."
Finally, Zhang An picked one that he thought was pretty good, and the man selling melons weighed it, weighing six pounds and three taels.
"Six kilograms and three taels, let's count it as six kilograms for you, see if that works."
"Okay, that's it."
Zhang An glanced at the scale beam , knowing something in his mind, he took out the money from his pocket to pay the bill.
After the uncle selling melons got his change, he picked up a kitchen knife and started to open melons for Zhang An.
Not to mention, this melon looks good, the rind is not very thick, and the flesh is quite red.
“Uncle, this is good.”
“That’s right, we locals don’t lie to locals.”
This old uncle heard Zhang An praise himself It was rare for me to laugh with Zhang An.
"Does that mean you have to lie to strangers when you meet them?"
Zhang An smiled and teased the old uncle.
“In our place, where are the outsiders? It’s ready and cut.”
When Zhang Ping and his father come back, this melon will be enough for everyone, Zhang An saw the melon blooming so well, so she bought another one and took it home at night.
"Huang Ming, Zhou Yang, you guys come here and get the watermelon."
Hearing Zhang An's shouting, the people who were digging put down their hoes and came over and took two ya each. They met Zhang Ping and Zhang Jianguo who were pulling a cart back.
When Uncle Ma, the melon seller, saw Dahei from Zhang An’s family approaching, he became a little trembling and frightened.
“Hey, this horse is a good horse.” Seeing the performance of his own horse, the melon seller had to take a closer look at this big black horse.
“Hahaha, our big black guy is afraid of all the other draft horses in the village.”
After paying the money and taking the melon, Zhang An walked back carrying another big watermelon. .
Nowadays, few people eat this watermelon. The main reason is that it is too expensive and contains a packet of water. Most people are unwilling to buy it because they think it is a waste of money.
Zhang An also hadn’t eaten watermelon for a long time, so he wanted to buy one for everyone to enjoy.
In one morning, I had already made five or six trips back.
"When the car is full, we will go back to eat. The meal has been prepared at home."
When they heard that it was time to have lunch, everyone realized that it was already noon. The watermelon just now Although everyone shared it, my stomach is still full after eating.
When it was full, the people in front took the carriage and left, and Zhang An walked back with the remaining people.
Zhou Yang had already gone back early when ten o'clock came.
Because he has to go back and be busy cooking, there is no need to go back early in the afternoon.
When we arrived at the entrance of the village, we happened to meet Zhou Yang's family who were carrying food to the river.
"Zhou Yang, after you finish your meal later, remember to come back for dinner."
"Don't wait for me. I don't know how long I have to fight. I'll go in the evening."
Although there were only a few dozen people, it still took some time to collect money and prepare food at the same time, and they had to wait for everyone to finish eating and collect their bowls, so Zhou Yang asked Zhang An not to wait for him. Zhang An was not polite when he heard this. Zhou Yang was a food seller anyway, so he would not miss out on his two mouthfuls of food.
After lunch, Zhang An took a look at the many carts of loess that had been brought back in the morning to see how much was left.
Zhang An planned to spread a thick layer of loess, and a carriage could not load much, so a carriage could not actually cover a large area.
It looks like more than ten or twenty trucks will be needed to cover the entire vegetable patch.
By the time everyone worked until five or six in the afternoon, the mounds of soil that had originally formed a hill under the highway had now bottomed out.
If the owner of this land knew that he had helped him remove the loess from the field, he would definitely come to thank him.
When the last car was pulled, Zhang An heard his father say that it was enough, and after this trip, there was no need to pull any more.
So everyone quickly finished loading the car and went home to wash it after get off work.
When Zhang An returned home, he grabbed a rabbit from the rabbit cage and asked his father to kill it and make spicy rabbit meat at night.
After Zhang An changed his clothes and washed his face, he packed a liter of corn and carried it to Zhang Ping's house.
Today, not only Zhang Ping came to my uncle’s house to help, but he also came to help with their carriage for the whole day.
People must be invited to eat, but the horse also needs to be given some rations.
When we arrived at the old uncle’s house, Zhang Ping happened to have finished washing, and Zhang An handed him the corn he had brought.
Zhang Ping was not polite. This is an unwritten custom in the village, so there is no need to refuse.
Then let Zhang Ping go to his own home first, while Zhang An went to other people's homes to invite people for dinner.
In the evening, I naturally gave everyone a delicious meal and served them well, especially Huang Ming. This guy himself was not good at drinking. When he was provoked by several other people, he drank a small drink at a time, and his expression changed on the spot. Go straight to the head.
Zhang An saw that they were not playing too much and did not dissuade them. If they really got into a drinking fight, Zhang An would definitely dissuade them.
After everyone has been cleaned and fed, everyone goes home.
Zhang An is about to get busy. Today’s Polygonatum has been in the sun for a whole day and is ready for the second steaming.
The first few times Huang Jing was steamed, it had to be steamed for four or five hours, so Zhang An sat in the yard and watched the steaming, adding firewood and water from time to time.
It was steamed until late at night to fully steam the steamer and Huangjing.
After steaming the Polygonatum japonica for the second time, it looks a little wrinkled, a little less than the first time.
Zhang An picked them out and put them in a dustpan, then found a piece of gauze to cover them, because the newly steamed Polygonatum japonica needed to be allowed to air out so that it could be dried the next day.
The drying continues the next day. The process of nine steaming and nine drying is only the second step.
Why it is necessary to steam and dry nine times, Zhang An doesn't quite understand, but the second grandfather said that nine is the ultimate number, and nine and nine are equal to one. Anyway, nine times is the best.
This is what the ancient law recorded, so I learned to do it.
"Zhang Tie, what did you get?"
Just after drying the Polygonatum spp., I saw Zhang Tie running past the door holding a cage of things, in a hurry.
“Brother, this is the stone pound I caught this morning. Look how big it is.”
Zhang An took the fish basket handed over by Zhang Tie and opened it. There were four or five large stone pounds in it. It was heavy, maybe more than three kilograms.
“Why are you catching this thing? You’re not afraid of catching the Leptoba.”
Shilbang is a kind of frog, much bigger than a frog, and its appearance is similar to the Leptoba. It's quite similar, except there aren't so many swollen bags on the back.
"The baby will run away when he sees me. I am going to catch him to compete. I am so big, I must be the one who can jump the farthest."
Dou Frogs, cricket fights, and mantis fights are some of the favorite entertainment methods of children in the village, and some even fight mice.
However, this stone-pound frog tastes very good, even better than frogs. Zhang An has not eaten it for a long time.
When Zhang An was a child, Mr. Zhang was still here. Every time he came back from the fields, if he caught a frog, the big stone pound would be brought back and steamed for Zhang An to eat.
At that time, Zhang An was the only grandson in the family, and Mr. Zhang and the old lady were very doting on him.
It is as big as a stone pound. After slaughtering it, peel it off and steam it with some lard seasoning. It is very fragrant and delicious.
"Zhang Tie, I have something good here. I will exchange it for you."
"What a good thing. Brother, if you want it, just take it. I'll go up the mountain to catch it."
As soon as Zhang Tie heard that his eldest brother wanted this thing, he simply gave it to Zhang An. Anyway, he ran to You can also find some by searching in the mountains.
Now this thing has not entered the hot pot restaurants in the city, and has not been completely eliminated by everyone. There are quite a few streams in the mountains, and sometimes it can be very troublesome to scream together.
“Wait for me.”
Zhang An thought of the August melons he had picked before, but they were still in the space.
After asking Zhang Tie to wait for a while, he entered the room with the fish basket.
Taking advantage of the situation, I put the stone pound into the space and picked up a dozen August melons and took them out.
“Here, do you want this? If not, I won’t give it to you.”
Zhang Tie’s eyes were filled with greed when he saw the August melon in Zhang An’s hand.
"Brother, when did you pick wild bananas? Why are they so big?"
Before Zhang An could take it out, Zhang Tie hurriedly took one from Zhang An's hand.
I peeled off the skin on the spot and started eating.
“This is bigger than what we found in Qingshang, and it’s more delicious.”
Qingshang is the hill that many people in Changqing village back up, and there are many exposed areas on the hill. rocky hillside.
However, although there are many rocks, there are still many trees growing on them.
Dolls of Zhang Tie's age always like to climb up and play, and are often beaten when adults find them.
Because the family is afraid that they will climb up and fall down, it is too dangerous.
“Here, I’ve given these to you, just think that I exchanged the stone pounds with you, and you take the rest back to Xiao Yanzi and your second and third brothers.”
Then Zhang An thought for a while and said, "Forget it, I'll take it myself, otherwise you won't leave anything for them after you finish eating it alone."
Zhang Tie is very greedy, and he obviously left a criminal record with Zhang An. , I originally wanted him to take it with me, but I thought I might as well take it myself.
"No, brother, I just brought them over. I promise to bring them over and not eat any of them."
Zhang Tie saw that Zhang An didn't believe him, so that's okay. The eldest brother doesn’t believe in himself anymore, and he won’t be able to get along with this group of friends in the future.
I immediately patted my chest and promised not to eat any of them, leaving them all to my brother and sister.
Seeing Zhang Tiedu's appearance, "Okay, then I will give you a chance. If you lie to me, I won't believe you next time."
Hearing Zhang Tiedu's appearance After An spoke, Zhang Tie took off his short sleeves, carried the August melon that Zhang An gave him, and ran home in a skipping motion. He didn't look like he was just thinking about going to the drying field to fight frogs.
Zhang An shook his head and looked at Zhang Tie. Although he is already twelve or thirteen years old and will go to junior high school next year, he is still so out of touch now.
But I also thought that after the stone pounds breed more in the space, I can catch them and cook them for hot pot. This thing is much more delicious than bullfrogs, and it is also nutritious.
(End of this chapter)