Chapter 179 Qingming Snail
“Zhang An, I have your letter.”
A few days after Wang Hua called, Zhang Changming from the post and telecommunications office in the town came to the village to deliver the letter.
Zhang Changming is from Wangjiachong next door and now works as a postman in the town.
Every day I ride a 28-meter large bar and deliver mail to several nearby villages.
“What are you sending? It’s such a big package and quite heavy.”
Zhang Changming entered the yard and picked up a large parcel from the back seat of the Erba Dagon. The envelope was handed to Zhang An.
Zhang An took a look and saw, yes, it was sent by Wang Hua.
“Hey, it’s a photo sent by a friend.”
Hearing that it was a photo, Zhang Changming felt that these people are really rich.
How many photos must be in such a big envelope?
Nowadays, it’s very expensive to find someone to take a photo. Their family only takes their children to take a photo once a year.
Time flies by, and April is soon here.
"Xiao An, why don't you go to the town and buy some rice seeds? It's time to plant rice."
Wang Fang arranged work for Zhang An when he got up in the morning.
“Mom, we didn’t get any seeds from the blood rice we planted a few years ago.”
Blood rice is a local rice seed passed down from Zhang An’s place a long time ago. one.
With blood rice, not only the rice is blood red, but the unshelled grains are also blood red.
Even its plant, from the stem to the leaves, has some blood color, which is why it is called blood rice.
The rice cooked with blood rice is much more fragrant than that cooked with ordinary rice.
It just looks as red as bleeding.
In the years when Grandpa Zhang An was still here, many families in the village grew it.
It’s just that not many people have grown it these years, and they have all switched to hybrid rice sold by the state.
Because in the past years, everyone suffered from hunger, not to mention eating, even the roots of trees and grass.
So now in order to have enough to eat, we choose hybrid rice with a higher yield.
Not only can you have enough to eat every year, but you can also sell the excess millet for money.
Of course, in terms of taste and nutrition, rice made with blood rice is much better, but the yield of blood rice is not high.
“We haven’t planted anything in our family for several years. Where can we find any seeds? It seems that Grandpa Er’s family has some.”
Wang Fang thought about it for a while. The blood rice was grown seven or eight years ago. How could it be grown at home now?
“Mom, cooking with blood rice is still delicious. How about our family just grows blood rice this year? We won’t sell it anyway, so we will eat it at home.”
Anyway, my family is different now, and I don’t have to worry about food and clothing.
My family is now much more prosperous than before. Even though we grow so much millet in a year, we can’t sell it for much money.
"Okay, if you want to eat, just plant it. You can go to Grandpa Er's house and ask for some rice seeds."
Before Wang Fang could think about it, Zhang Jianguo next to him spoke. .
He is thinking very clearly now. Anyway, as long as the family is not hungry, it will be fine.
Last year, my family planted so much millet and buds, but in the end they all were sold, and I only got about two thousand yuan.
As for the fish pond built by my son, I don’t need to take care of it. I just cut some grass and throw it in to feed the fish.
Last time, I only sold half of it, which was enough for my family to sell food for several years.
Seeing that his man had already spoken, Wang Fang did not speak.
These two men can decide on all major matters at home.
She just needs to take care of her family and take care of her men and children.
Zhang An quickly washed up and headed towards Mr. Zhang's house.
“Second Grandma, you are soaking and planting grains.”
Zhang An walked along the way, and many people were soaking and planting grains, preparing to raise young seedlings.
"Xiao An is here. Everyone is soaking the millet. I also took it out and soaked it."
"Milk, did you save the blood rice seeds?"
Zhang An helped the second mistress bring water and soak the millet in the bucket.
"Yes, your master keeps some. He plants some every year. I'm afraid he won't be able to find them in the future. Why, you have to take them and plant them."
"Yeah, yeah, I told my dad that we will plant blood rice this year. It's okay to have a smaller harvest. Anyway, we eat it at home and we don't plan to sell it to outsiders."
I heard my grandson say. They wanted to plant blood rice. They came here to look for grain seeds, so Grandma Zhang called Master Zhang over from the backyard.
When Mr. Zhang heard that Zhang An was looking for grain seeds, he climbed up to the wooden floor and rummaged around for a while.
Finally, I brought down a bag of blood-red rice.
“Hey, there are so many, I thought there weren’t many.”
This bag weighs forty or fifty kilograms anyway.
"It grew well last year, so I left some more in case people came looking for it."
Secretary Zhang heard from Zhang An that their family would plant all blood rice this year, so He kept a few kilograms for himself and let Zhang Security Department pick up the rest.
Zhang An was not polite to his second grandfather. Anyway, he would keep more of this rice seed in the space.
And after harvesting at home, the food was packed for the two old people.
“Master, chicken blood glutinous rice, if you have any, give me some. Anyway, the blood rice has been planted, so I’ll add some chicken blood glutinous rice.”
Chicken blood glutinous rice and blood rice It’s almost the same, but the color of chicken blood glutinous rice is darker red and more glutinous.
"You are here to harvest me today. You know very well what kind of things you have at home."
Secretary Zhang laughed and cursed, and took out a small bag of rice seeds from upstairs.
"Oh, you are my master. If I don't criticize you, then you will."
The whole show made both Master Zhang and Mistress Zhang happy.
Second Master Zhang left a lot of chicken blood glutinous rice seeds, but Zhang An packed a few kilograms back.
This chicken blood glutinous rice is similar to the blood rice, but it is slightly shorter and waxier.
I don’t usually eat much, and I don’t even use this when making rice wine and making rice cakes.
So you don’t need to plant too much, as long as you have enough to eat.
After returning home, Wang Fang soaked the rice seeds Zhang An brought back.
Of course, Zhang An kept some for himself in the space, and will use the seeds cultivated in the space next season.
"Brother Anzi, are you going to pick up screws in the field?"
Zhang An had just soaked the rice seeds when he heard Huang Ming shouting.
“Wherever you have been lately, I haven’t seen you much.”
Zhang An felt like he hadn’t seen Huang Ming for more than a week. Usually when this guy is in the village, he always There will be some movement.
“I sent my milk to my aunt’s house for a few days, and I just came back last night.”
Huang Ming’s aunt married to the next province. It’s not far, but it’s close. Not even close.
A few days ago, Second Grandma Huang heard that Huang Ming’s eldest aunt was sick and unwell, so the old lady wanted to go and see for herself.
On this road, Mrs. Huang is an old lady, and she can’t find her way by car.
The sons and daughters-in-law were not willing to go, so Huang Ming accompanied the old lady.
“Let’s go and pick up screws. I see a lot of screws in the ditch.”
"Come on, let's go and call Zhou Yang. I'll find a bucket and we'll go together."
Qingming snails are more delicious than goose.
Unknowingly, a year has passed and it is the season to eat snails again.
In the Changqing area, a large number of field snails can be found in ditches and riversides every spring.
And now the environment is good, there is no invasion of apple snails yet.
Every Spring Festival, this is a delicacy that locals, old and children, love.
Zhang An found a small bucket to carry. Not long after, Huang Ming and Zhou Yang came over. They both brought a bucket and fire tongs. "Brother, you don't bring fire tongs?"
"What kind of fire tongs do you bring? You don't have to bend down to pick them up. It's better to use your hands."
Listen to Zhang When An said this, Zhou Yang simply put the tongs in Zhang An's yard and didn't take them with him.
Huang Ming saw that Zhou Yang didn't bring it with him, so he didn't bring it with him either.
In the past few days, the fields are still full of rapeseeds, but the water in the river has begun to rise.
There are already people from several villages in Tianba driving their cattle to plow the rice fields.
When we got to the ditch, we both stepped in it and started to feel for the screws.
“Oh, the screws are so big this year.”
As soon as Huang Ming went down into the ditch, he saw several snails adsorbed on the stone wall.
I reached down and touched it, and everything came up.
“Yes, this year’s screws are much bigger than last year.”
Zhou Yang also fished out a few from the water, and each one was bigger than his thumb.
Seeing that Huang Ming and Zhou Yang were both open, Zhang An picked up his trousers and stood in the ditch.
He began to bend down and search in the ditch.
In fact, there are many screws in the ditch, but most of them are very small.
So when everyone comes out to pick up screws, they all touch the big ones.
It is not that no one eats those tiny screws. In later generations, street stalls sold screws that were all screws.
There are also many food factories that like to make screws like this and package them for retail.
Zhang An and the others didn’t touch the little ones because the snacks were not satisfying to eat.
And everyone is picking small ones. Within a few years, there will be no trace of snails in the ditch.
"Haha, look, I touched another snail."
Huang Ming held up a large snail to show off to Zhou Yang and Zhang An.
“Throw it over and let me take a look.”
Zhang An looked at it from a distance and saw that the boss was no more than a native egg.
But from a distance and looking down, Zhang An thought he had touched a lucky snail.
As soon as Huang Ming heard this, he threw the big snail in his hand to Zhang An.
Zhang An took a second look and felt relieved when he realized that it was indeed a field snail and not a snail.
After several people followed this small ditch, they found several kilograms in the bucket.
The three of them should be the first people in the village to come out to touch snails this year.
Now the big ones in the ditch are still there, but if those kids in school stop going to class.
After they touched it once, there were really only a few baby snails left.
"Okay, okay, this is almost enough."
I touched a few ditches and found that Zhang An's bucket was already half full, as were Zhou Yang and Huang Ming's harvest. Not bad.
So as soon as Zhang An shouted, everyone was ready to carry the bucket home.
Eat what you touch first, and touch it again if you want to eat another day.
The snail shells that have just been brought home are full of mud and sand, so they cannot be cooked directly.
Put it in a bucket first, soak it in water, and pour some salt and rapeseed oil into it.
Just leave it like this for a while, and they will vomit all the mud in their stomachs.
Generally, people are not in a hurry to eat what they picked up the day before. They leave it overnight and almost all the sediment is vomited out the next day.
Finally, knock off their butts and put them in a pot to boil.
In the past, you would have to wait until the next day to eat.
Now Zhang An doesn’t want to wait any longer and wants to put them into the pot at night.
So after returning home and putting some rapeseed oil, Zhang An put the bucket into the space.
In this case, after an hour or so, you can take it out and tap the tip of the screw.
Screws are not only slow to eat, but also slow to process.
You need to knock off their butts one by one before they can be put into the pot for cooking.
Zhang An and the others eat screws here. Generally, they are cooked directly if they are this size.
Unless it is a very big one, like the big ones from Huang Ming today, the snail meat inside will be picked out and fried.
"Hey, go feel for the screws and come back. There are quite a few."
After lunch, Zhang Jianguo drove the sheep out and has not returned until now.
Actually, Zhang An’s sheep are allowed to graze without being driven out, and the grass in the woods behind them grows very well.
It’s just that Zhang Jianguo likes to go out and let loose. There’s nothing to do now, so I’ll let him.
“Nothing happened today. They came over and shouted, so I followed them and touched them.”
From the beginning, Zhang An knocked alone, and the speed was relatively slow.
But after Zhang Jianguo came back, the two of them knocked together and the speed became faster.
After processing the screws, Zhang An handed them over to his old mother who was cooking in the kitchen.
Zhang An can also cook it himself, but the taste is a little worse.
When it was time to eat, Wang Fang brought out a bowl full of spicy snails and placed them on the table.
At this moment, the spicy snails in the basin have just come out of the pot and are still smoking hot.
Just smelling this smell made Zhang An choke on his saliva.
"You two eat first, and I will send some of the pot next to the second and third sons' families."
Wang Fang said, picking up the half pot next to him and going out.
Zhang An didn’t eat much at night, he kept sucking snails, which were so delicious.
The family ate this dinner for more than an hour before getting rid of the snails.
This thing actually doesn’t have much meat, it just eats slowly and lasts a long time.
Some people in later generations ordered two plates of boiled snails at a street food stall and drank dozens of bottles of beer.
. . .
Farmers have less time in the month, but people are twice as busy in May.
In fact, it’s not just May, April has already started to be busy.
A few days before the Qingming Festival, Zhang An took the time to beat up the rice fields at home.
After the ancestor worship at Qingming Festival, the rice seeds sown before have grown into small seedlings that can be transplanted.
During this time, many people came to the village.
Most of them came to the cherry blossom forest in the mountains behind Zhang An’s house to enjoy the flowers.
After Zhang An asked, he found out that most of them had read Wu Ming's reports.
I just learned that there is such a place in Changqing, so I came over on the weekend to enjoy the cherry blossoms.
Actually, a few people came over on Friday, and Zhang An thought they were just drop-ins.
Unexpectedly, on Saturday, the village seemed to be as lively as the New Year.
Fortunately, Zhang An’s small seedlings had been transplanted two days ago, and the rapeseed has not yet been harvested.
So during this time, Wang Fang received many tourists at home.
The maids in the village who set up stalls selling snacks last year are out again these days.
From Qiaotou to the village, you can see many people setting up stalls.
In the past two days, Zhou Yang also spent money to collect snails from everyone.
After making it during the day, we sell it to people who come to the village as snacks. There are quite a few people buying it, and the business is very good.
(End of this chapter)