Chapter 128 Harvesting Potatoes and Digging a Cellar
Every time when it comes to proposing marriage to Zhang An, Wang Fang and Zhang Jianguo hint to Zhang An overtly or covertly.
But no matter what, Zhang An just didn’t answer the conversation.
In the end, the two of them saw that Zhang An did not answer the conversation, and they themselves were bored, so they stopped talking.
Wang Fang has made up his mind anyway, no matter what Zhang An says in the past two years, he has an excuse.
When she reaches the age in two years, this matter will not be discussed with her.
Then it will not be like this now, and we will discuss things calmly.
"Is this the old kite you caught before?"
It was only now that Zhang Jianguo looked at the flower head on Zhang An's shoulder.
When Zhang An entered the yard just now, none of the chickens, ducks, geese, and rabbits at home dared to move. They squatted on the ground and shivered.
I just waited for a long time, probably because I saw that the flower heads didn't attack them, so they slowed down.
But they have now gone to the cherry forest, far away from the flower heads.
"You kid, the old kite's claws are so sharp, why don't you put something on your shoulders to scratch a few holes for me."
Wang Fang didn't care about Huatou, but he did. Seeing Zhang An with his head on his shoulders, he was a little worried.
"Mom, it's okay, it can control the strength and won't scratch me."
If Huatou could understand, he would definitely despise Zhang An.
How dare you grab me hard? I’ve already been beaten several times, but I can’t continue to be beaten.
“Dad, that’s it. I named it Huatou. Look at its head, it looks like a flower head and a beautiful brain.”
For Zhang An’s naming, Zhang Jianguo and Zhang An were both Kouzi has seen it before.
Anyway, these animals at home don’t matter. If you have a child in the future, you must not cause trouble to him.
"Why does Huatou look bigger than other old kites?"
Zhang Jianguo is no stranger to old kites. When he saw Huatou, he could tell at a glance that Huatou was much bigger than ordinary old kites.
"Dad, Huatou is indeed bigger than other old kites."
At Zhang An's signal, Huatou had already stood on Zhang Jianguo's shoulders.
“Hiss, it’s so heavy, how can it still get close to me?”
Zhang Jianguo was shocked that Huatou could get close to him. This eagle usually doesn’t get close to others.
Zhang An just wanted to give it a try, because just now his father reached out to touch it, and it didn’t resist.
I didn’t expect that Huatou would not resist his father.
"Maybe it knows that we are a family."
Zhang An thought for a while, and there was only one possibility, which was the space spring water that his parents often used for eating and drinking.
They already have the aura of space on their bodies, so Hua Tou gets close to them.
As expected, Zhang An tried again, and Huatou was also very close to his mother.
But when Peanut was a baby, why didn’t he let his parents get close to him?
In the end, Zhang An could only blame it on his parents’ spatial aura not being strong at that time.
Since the flower head is too heavy, it is not a problem to keep squatting on Zhang An's shoulders.
Zhang An clapped his hands and let it fly to the sweet-scented osmanthus tree and squat down, and then he followed and made corn pulp.
There are still big bags of young buds on the ground. If they were all pulped, it would probably take two barrels to filter out.
With so much corn pulp, Zhang An felt that his family would be able to eat it for a long time.
“Mom, our family has so much food, I’m afraid we’ll have to eat until the Chinese New Year.”
“This is how much we have, I’ll prepare some for your second uncle and your uncle. The third uncle’s family didn’t do anything this year, so they asked Xiao Li to get some and there wasn’t much left.”
Zhang An thought that both of his uncles' families had made it. After all, after breaking off the corn, each family would have some tender ones left.
No wonder my mother has to do so much, even this is not a lot.
Finally, after spending two or three hours, the pair of corns were beaten into pulp.
There is no machine now, so we just use a kitchen knife to do it, which is too laborious.
Finally, Wang Fang took out a large piece of gauze and filtered it. After filtering, the corn dregs were rinsed with water to avoid wasting any starch.
There will be nothing to do with Zhang An later. He can get up and walk around. Sitting for several hours is really too much.
“I’m digging potato chips today, uncle.”
Zhang An, who had just gone out and was going to stroll around the village.
I saw Uncle Wang coming back from the front yard carrying two baskets of freshly dug potatoes.
"While there is nothing much to do these days, I will dig it up first. Have you dug it up yet?"
Uncle Wang, who is in his fifties, is already an old carrying pole.
The two large baskets of potatoes probably weighed about a hundred kilograms, but judging from the way he picked them up, it was still easy.
"Our family hasn't dug yet. We will dig in the next few days. This year's potatoes have grown so big."
Zhang An looked at the potatoes in Uncle Wang's basket. Potatoes are very big.
"It has been said that it has been good in the past two years, and everything is good for planting on the ground. This thing has been around for a year. Xiao An, your family hasn't dug it yet. You can come and get some later to eat. "
"No, no, second uncle, we still have it at home, and mine will be dug soon."
In the end, Zhang An said a few words to the old man, but did not tell anyone else. Keep chatting.
After all, it is very laborious for others to carry the burden.
Walking around the village, Zhang An saw many people coming back from the mountains to dig potatoes.
It can be seen during this time that everyone’s faces are full of joy of harvest.
I just finished harvesting the corns and millet not long ago. During this time, I also harvested sweet potatoes and potatoes.
It can be seen from their faces that this year is another good harvest year.
In the past two years, people have come to harvest the potatoes grown in the mountains. They cost about 30 cents per catty, and larger ones can be sold for more.
This is better than in the past years. In the past, no one came to harvest, and whatever was grown at home was used to feed the pigs.
If it can be sold now, it can be regarded as a source of income for the family.
“Dad, I see everyone in the village is digging potatoes, why don’t our family dig them too.”
After Zhang An came back, he told his parents about digging potatoes. things.
"That's alright. Forget it, I'll go tomorrow. I still have sweet potatoes at home."
Zhang An's family also planted half an acre of potatoes and sweet potatoes this year, and I guess they can dig out a lot of them. .
Early the next morning, the family of three got up, packed their things, and led the big black horse up the mountain.
Zhang An's potatoes are grown a little farther away from the sweet potatoes, mainly because of soil quality issues.
Potatoes and sweet potatoes grow better in sandy soil, and the nearby mountains are not sandy soil.
Arrived in the field, Zhang Jianguo first cut the potato vines and sweet potato vines.
In previous years, these would have been taken back to feed the livestock, but now we don’t need them at home.
So I cut it and put it aside, waiting to finish digging the potatoes and cover them with some mud.
When they rot, they can be used to fertilize the land.
Zhang An started digging potatoes with a hoe. He said he was digging, but in fact it was more like planing.
Be careful when digging this thing. If you don’t pay attention, it will not work if you dig directly into the potato with the hoe.
“The potatoes this year are not small, each one is as big as a big bowl.”
Wang Fang saw the potatoes dug out from his own land, each one was as big as a big bowl.
Everyone was extremely happy. When Zhang An saw this, he couldn't bear to interrupt his mother. After all, other families in the village dug pretty big potatoes this year.
In her eyes, this is all money, and she can’t eat much at home.
When planting potatoes, Zhang Jianguo carried a lot of grass manure to plant them.
It took the family a whole day to dig more than half an acre of potatoes and sweet potatoes.
The potatoes and sweet potatoes at home are piled into hills. In the past, they could only be used to feed pigs every day.
Originally, Zhang An’s family planned to sell most of it and keep some enough for their own food.
But contrary to expectations, the potatoes grown this year are worthless.
The second uncle who went to call people to collect potatoes a few days ago said that last year he could sell potatoes for more than 30 cents, or even 40 cents per pound.
This year when people came to collect it, they only gave me a price of just over 20 cents per catty.
So now everyone is quite unwilling to do so. If they sell it, the price will be too low to make it worthwhile.
If you don’t sell it, you won’t be able to eat it all at home, and it will get damaged easily if it is piled up, and it is not cost-effective to feed pigs.
People in the mountains around Hongyan Town do not have the habit of digging cellars.
Generally, the sweet potatoes and potatoes dug up at home are piled directly in a room.
So although potatoes are durable, many of them go bad in the end.
But if you put the spoiled potatoes, they taste very strong, just like runny potatoes.
Zhang An can somewhat understand the price of potatoes this year.
Not to mention other places, just in Changqing Village, the time when everyone is digging potatoes can be seen by anyone with a discerning eye.
This year’s potatoes are a good harvest. They are plentiful and big. They are much better than last year.
With excess production capacity, prices will definitely come down.
But just because Zhang An understands it doesn't mean he is willing to sell it at a low price.
So now he is thinking about how to save it easily.
In fact, it is a good choice to put it in the space. It will not break down for a long time.
But such potatoes disappeared all of a sudden, Zhang Anke couldn’t explain it.
Finally, Zhang An thought about it, discussed it with his parents, and decided not to sell it.
I plan to dig a cellar in the backyard by the river to store potatoes and sweet potatoes.
For more than two cents a pound, I might as well keep it for baking powder.
Although no one in Zhang An’s family knows how to dig a cellar, there are people in the village who can.
Wang Xinghua, who sells roasted wine in the village, has a wine cellar at his home. His old man, Wang Qiyan, dug it himself.
So after dinner in the evening, Zhang An carried some things and went to Wang Xinhua's house.
"Uncle Xinghua, my uncle is not at home."
We are all from Shangzhai, so we are familiar with each other.
Wang Xinghua's family has the same surname as Wang Fang. Regardless of whether they are directly related or not, Zhang An still has to call him uncle.
"Zhang An is here, come and sit down, my dad is at home."
Wang Xinghua saw Zhang An coming and called Zhang An to sit at home.
"You're here when you come, why did you bring something here? You're such a kid."
Seeing that Zhang An brought something, Wang Xinhua's mother said a few polite words.
In fact, the relationship between the two families is not very close, and it is just a normal neighborly relationship.
Zhang An wants to find someone to work for, so he must do this properly.
After a few people chatted about home affairs and gossip, Zhang An got down to business.
"Uncle, I heard from my dad that you always know how to dig a cellar."
"It's not a big deal to dig a cellar. Do you want to dig one?"
"You want to dig one at home?" I'm here to ask for your help. The price of potatoes this year is too low, and I'm not willing to sell them, so I'm thinking of not selling them at all and digging a cellar to store them."
" It's the same thing. When the year is bad, everyone can't eat. When the year is good, we can't sell it at a high price. It's us who grow crops who suffer."
The old man heard what Zhang An said. Asking him to help dig the cellar, he readily agreed.
Neighbors should help each other, but there is no guarantee that one day you will need help from others.
Besides, this is installed on the door, and with all these things brought, it makes no sense not to help.
The next day Wang Fang got up and made breakfast. After inviting Mr. Wang Qiyan over for breakfast, he was ready to start work.
It is said to be a cellar, but in fact it was not dug underground at all.
Zhang An planned to dig in the backyard. He could just dig directly into the mountain in the backyard.
The backyard of Zhang An's house is at the foot of the loess slope. It is all loess, so there is no need to worry about it collapsing due to excavation.
I called Mr. Wang Qiyan over, mainly because I wanted to ask him for guidance so that problems would not be everywhere after digging it out.
After choosing the place, Zhang An started digging with a pickaxe.
I dug straight from the ridge of the backyard to the inside. It took a long time to dig out a hole that was more than one meter high and two meters deep.
"No wonder people in the village say that Anzi is very strong. I saw it today."
Looking at Zhang An digging so deep in one go, his face was not red or he was out of breath.
Old man Wang Qiyan lamented that when his generation was young, there were many strong people, but he had never seen anyone like Zhang An.
The entrance to the cave has been dug, and the digging of the cellar will begin.
Zhang An dug the hole diagonally upward.
The advantage of digging like this is that if there is water outside in the future, the water will not flow into the cellar.
Even if Zhang An dug a drainage ditch in his backyard, Zhang An would not spare this effort.
After Zhang An dug enough to accommodate a few more people, Zhang Jianguo and the others began to dig in with hoes.
The passage can be dug lower, but the cellar needs to be dug bigger.
There are so many things to store at home, and it can’t be accommodated without digging them up.
And there’s no guarantee what else will be put in it in the future.
It took two days of digging to complete the cellar of Zhang An's house, and Zhang An even worked overtime at night.
The main reason is that the deeper you dig, the more solid the soil becomes, making it harder to dig out.
But just digging out the cellar space is not enough for one family to dig out.
Finally, Mr. Wang lit a fire inside and roasted it for a long time before it was finished.
After leaving it for a few days, you can put your potatoes and sweet potatoes in it.
There were too many animals in his house, so Zhang An specially made a cellar door and installed it to prevent them from running inside.
After a few days of storage, Zhang An began to move the potatoes and sweet potatoes piled inside the house.
At this time, people who came down to collect potatoes from the town also came to the village to shout.
Many families in the village finally sold their potatoes.
Although the price is a bit cheaper, money is only yours if you hold it in your own hands.
However, there were still a few people who didn't want to sell. When they saw Zhang An's family digging a cellar, they all followed suit.
So in the past two days, Mr. Wang Qiyan was basically not at home.
Either this person or that person invites you.
But it must have started the cellar era in Changqing Village.
(End of this chapter)