Chapter 344: Chores at the beginning of the year
Back home, when the father and son were washing their hands, Wang Fang poured half a basin of corn kernels for Dahei.
This is what happens when farmers are busy. Not only do people have to eat, but they also have to feed their animals.
For now, the livestock at home can hold up half the sky.
Although Dahei really wanted to chew on the plump green grass in the space, seeing that Zhang An ignored it, he didn't dare to be picky and just chewed the corn kernels.
After lunch, the father and son sat in the yard and rested for a while.
Su Ying made a pot of hot tea at the right time and poured a cup for her father-in-law and her husband.
Then they rinsed the kettle that Zhang An brought to the field, filled it with tea again, and asked them to take it to the field to drink later.
Wang Fang finished clearing the dishes and watched Dahei finishing the corn kernels in the basin, then poured a basin of water for it.
Dahei tasted it and was a little disappointed when he found that it was not space spring water.
It never thought that other people's animals did not have such good food and drink treatment, but when they came to it, they were picky and picky.
But it still bowed its head to drink water honestly. After all, after working all morning, people have drank water several times. How can an animal not be thirsty?
While Wang Fang was drinking horses, Zhang An and Zhang Jianguo were discussing the family's farming plan this year.
In the afternoon, while Zhang An was plowing the fields, Li Hongbin drove several excavators into the fields on the other side of the stone pass.
After asking, I found out that when he was not here yesterday, the village had already circled the land here.
And today is the eighth day of the Lunar New Year. In everyone's mind, it is a relatively auspicious day, suitable for starting work.
After Li Hongbin explained, several excavator masters started the excavator and started working.
. . . .
Early the next morning, when Zhang An got up and wanted to water the young seedlings, he found that the watering can at home was too small.
"Mom, I'll go to town and buy a sprayer. Is there anything you want to buy?"
This watering can can hold up to two ladles of water, but it is too small and it is too troublesome to sprinkle water.
So Zhang An decided to go to town and buy a sprayer that he carried on his back and was specially used to spray pesticides.
"Then you can help me buy two boxes of blue thread and bring them back. I tried to mend my clothes yesterday but couldn't get any thread."
There is nothing missing at home, Wang Fang only asked Zhang An to Buy me some needlework.
Zhang An found the key and did not go out directly. Instead, he went to Li Hongbin's house.
Because he has been thinking about the vines in Li Hongbin’s yard for more than a day or two.
But now Zhang An rarely goes to the town. If he has something to do, he goes directly to the city, so this matter has been put off again and again.
"Godfather." Li Yao looked at Zhang An and became a little excited. He thought that Zhang An would be able to rescue him from his suffering.
Because at this moment, Zhou Lan was watching over him doing his winter vacation homework.
For every playful child, homework during the winter and summer vacations is a hurdle that cannot be overcome.
"Hurry up and write. School will start in a few days. If you don't write, you won't be able to finish it. Your parents will have to be invited by then."
Zhang An was like this when he was in elementary school.
How fun it is to have fun during the Chinese New Year, but how hard it is to make up for winter vacation homework before school starts.
And there was no electricity in the village at that time, so I could only write during the day and light kerosene lamps at night.
But he didn’t dare to tell Wang Fang that he hadn’t finished his homework yet, so he had to light up the lamp to do his homework.
Because Wang Fang knew that if he hadn't finished his homework, what might be waiting for him would be a set meal of stir-fried buttocks with golden bamboo shoots.
Zhang An had been caught in the rain before, so now that he saw that Li Yao and the others had umbrellas, he decided to tear off their umbrellas.
Hearing Zhang An's words, Zhou Lan next to him snorted again at the right time, and Li Yao had no choice but to surrender and continue working hard.
It’s not that he can’t write, it’s just that he thinks about going out and having fun all day long and has no thoughts.
"Sister Lan, please give me the key to the yard in the town. I will go to the town later, and I will just cut off a section of your grape vine and bring it back."
Grapevines are very easy to plant and survive. You don’t need to dig up the whole plant directly. You just need to cut off a cutting and insert it into the soil, and it will survive easily.
“You could just dig it back up. It would be a waste to leave it there without anyone taking care of it. It would be easier to plant the roots if you just dig them up.”
Zhou Lan’s family used to live there. When she was in town, she often watered, fertilized, and took care of the grapes, and the grapes they produced were pretty good.
But after their family moved here in the past two years, no one has taken care of them, and the grapes have gone wild. Zhou Lan thought about asking Zhang An to dig up the whole plant.
“Forget it, I’ll just cut it off a few times. It would be a pity to dig up so many grape trellises.”
Although there is only one grapevine in their yard, But now he has climbed half the yard.
If the entire plant is dug up by the roots, the vines at the back will have to be cut off. This approach is too wasteful and unnecessary.
Anyway, as long as there is a piece of fresh rattan, Zhang An can make it come alive.
"Wait a minute, I'll look for the key. I haven't used it for a long time and I can't even remember where I put it."
While Zhou Lan went back to the room to look for the key, Li Yao The little guy lay on the table and sighed.
His eyes were dull, staring straight out of the window, like a caged bird longing for freedom.
Seeing him like this, Zhang An burst into laughter.
Because in later generations, this was a very common seasonal symptom.
The usually popular periods are February to March and August to September each year, and the susceptible group is students.
This is the fear of starting school that scares students and worries parents.
“If this has not been used for a long time and is a little rusty, you may need to find something to rub it with.”
The humidity in the mountainous area is relatively heavy, so the iron key will be left like this for a long time. You can show off your movements.
"It's okay. This matter can be solved easily. Just get some kerosene to wipe the pot with."
Zhang An took the key and asked Zhou Lan for some kerosene to remove the rust. Put the key in and soak it.
Then I brushed it with a pot wiper. I just showed off the iron key, and it immediately fell off the rust.
Although it's not as shiny as new, the rust on it has been removed, so you don't have to worry about it not being able to fit in. Of course, it's a keyhole.
After getting the key, Zhang An didn't stay long. After all, just one more words to Zhou Lan could make some warriors lazy for a while.
Driving to the town, Zhang An did not go directly to the streets.
Instead, we stopped at the roadside of Zhenkouzi, where there was a rice milling shop.
There was a roar of machines inside, it must be someone beating rice.
When he saw the rice threshing room, Zhang An remembered the rice already piled in the space.
He planned to make grain wine in the future, but now he found that the prepared blood rice had not been broken into rice.
Although Zhang Xinmin’s home in the village also has a rice crushing machine, it will be difficult to explain when the time comes to crush so much rice.
So when he saw the rice threshing room, Zhang An decided to break up two carts of rice.
I found a place now, loaded a cart full of rice, and took it to the rice threshing room.
When Zhang An came, it happened that the house had just been broken into pieces the day before and the machine had stopped, so there was no need to wait.
There was a native dog Ah Huang at the door of the rice-making house. Zhang An, who used to run on this road, was deeply impressed by this guy.
Every time this guy sees someone approaching, he raises his head and barks.
Now it sees Zhang An entering the yard of the rice house, and wants to bark at Zhang An with his head raised,< br>
But when Zhang An approached it, it immediately shrank back into its nest with its tail between its legs.
Because this dog is like that, it only dares to raise its tail and roar twice, but it doesn't dare to bite people.
But just like this, it can scare some children and people who are afraid of dogs who come to the market. Every time they come to the market, they walk far away.
After teasing the big yellow dog for a while, Zhang An did not continue to scare it.
"Boss, please help me thrash some rice."
I walked into the rice threshing room and shouted to the boss who was collecting money.
"Okay, wait for me to have a good time, I will give him back the change first." The boss is a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, and he is still giving change to the last person who threshed rice.
Seeing the business coming, he smiled and said to Zhang An.
"Where is the little brother Guzi, please bring him in and weigh him first."
It took two minutes, the boss gave the money to the man, and after counting it correctly, he Came for Zhang An.
"Yeah, boss, please open the door first. I can back the car in directly and save a few steps."
"Okay, I'll open it while you back up." Come in.”
When the boss heard this, he became even more happy, because it meant that Zhang An had to harvest more grain.
Big business comes to your door, and anyone who meets him will be very happy.
Sure enough, the boss’s smile didn’t stop until Zhang An dumped the pickup truck into the rice house.
This cart of millet contains more than a thousand kilograms. After crushing it, you can make a lot of money.
“Yaohua, call your brother to come out and help Da Miha.”
During the weighing, the boss called his two sons over to help.
On the one hand, when weighing, the more people there are, the faster the weighing will be.
Also, when it comes to rice, there is so much millet that two people can’t win (can’t win, which means they can’t handle it).
With two more people here, it will be faster to pick up the rice.
This big business is different. Those who harvest one or two hundred kilograms of millet on weekdays do not get such treatment.
"Little brother, the total is one thousand two hundred and fifty kilograms. If you weigh this much, it counts as one thousand two hundred kilograms."
After weighing the cart of millet, the boss saw Zhang An took so many shots at one time and even took the initiative to give him a small change.
"Okay, thank you boss for your generosity, I will bring a car over later."
Calculated based on the price of one hundred kilograms per dollar, fifty kilograms is 50 cents free.
Although the money is not much, others are also running small businesses, so fifty cents is already very generous.
When the boss heard Zhang An said that he wanted to take a taxi, his face became even happier and he said a few good words in succession.
“Hey, brother, this is blood rice. I haven’t seen anyone planting this kind of rice in many years.”
First, he carried two bags of millet and poured them into the rice crusher. In Douli, the boss looked at the red rice husk and said with some surprise.
His two sons were about the same age as Zhang An. They had probably never seen blood rice before, so they looked at the blood-red millet with curiosity.
"Oh? The boss also recognizes this blood rice?"
"Why can't you recognize it? We have eaten it before, but it's a pity that the production is not good. Now everyone Plant hybrid rice.”
When talking about this, the boss began to recall the past, “The yield of this rice is small, but it is delicious and can withstand hunger.”
< br>As soon as the boss said this, Zhang An knew that he had eaten it before, because the rice cooked with blood rice would make you feel hungrier than white rice.
Thinking that Zhang An was going to bring a truck over, the boss didn't say much, and immediately pulled the switch and started the rice crusher.
This unit is indeed a big unit. As soon as it started, there was a deafening roar, which was much louder than the small unit in Zhang Xinmin's home.
One of the boss’s two sons is helping to load the rice, and the other is helping to put the millet into the bucket.
The boss, on the other hand, was adjusting the rice crushing machine next to the machine, trying to get some crushed rice for Zhang Anshao.
It took more than half an hour to beat more than a thousand kilograms of millet before it was all broken.
With the help of their father and son, Zhang An packed the rice and bran into bags and loaded them all into the car.
After paying the price for beating rice this time, Zhang An took the rice and went out.
The boss stood at the door, looking at Zhang An as he went in, hoping for your early return.
After threshing more than two thousand kilograms of millet, I will have an income of more than 20 yuan, and I will pay a few yuan for the electricity bill. The rest is pure profit.
It took Zhang An more than an hour to beat two carts of millet into rice.
The rice yield rate of blood rice produced in space is quite high, exceeding 70%.
More than a thousand kilograms of blood-red rice were placed in front of him, and Zhang An suddenly felt a sense of pride in his heart.
Just looking at the hundreds of kilograms of rice bran next to me, I felt a little bad.
This thing is a bit like chicken ribs, giving Zhang An a feeling that it is useless to eat and a pity to throw away.
Just now he asked the owner of the rice mill, if the boss harvested the chaff, he would sell it all.
Unfortunately, the chaff has not yet begun to be harvested in the rice house these days, so Zhang An had to take it away together.
But it doesn’t matter, the space is so big, it doesn’t matter if they are piled inside first, just in case they are needed sooner or later.
When we got to the street, there were people everywhere. It was the Chinese New Year, and there were quite a few people out to play.
After all, in the past, except on market days, the street was deserted from beginning to end, with not many people in sight.
There were too many people and cars couldn’t get in, so Zhang An parked his car at the intersection and walked inside.
"Selling glutinous rice cakes, soybean flour glutinous rice cakes. They are very delicious. Come and buy them."
After walking a few steps, Zhang An met an old man pushing a bicycle selling bean flour glutinous rice cakes.
This thing is actually beaten glutinous rice cake, then cut into thumb-sized pieces, and then wrapped in fried soybean noodles. It tastes delicious.
In some places, it is called furnace rolling.
"Old man, help me wrap it for two yuan, and wrap it with more bean noodles."
No one will sell this thing in later generations, and Zhang An hasn't eaten it for many years. .
When I saw someone selling it, I came over to buy some to satisfy my craving.
"Okay, I'll call you Cheha right away."
The old man saw the business coming, responded, and parked his bicycle on the side of the road without blocking others walking.
Finally, I shook my hand and gave it to Zhang An to cut the glutinous rice cakes. Nowadays, these things cost 50 cents each, and there are twenty-four in each portion.
Zhang An asked for two yuan, and the old man shook it for a long time before cutting it. After wrapping it, it was a big bag.
“Come on, baby, if you like bean noodles, I’ll put some more in the bag for you.”
Zhang An was holding the bag, and the old man scooped up another scoop of bean noodles and poured it into it. spread.
“This bean noodles is very fragrant. You fried it yourself. There is brown sugar in it.”
Zhang Angang couldn’t help but use bamboo skewers when he finally put the glutinous rice cakes in the bag. Pricked one and put it in his mouth.
The soft and glutinous glutinous rice cake is a perfect match with the bean noodles stir-fried with brown sugar.
“Yes, my old man has been frying this bean noodles for more than ten years. The beans used are black-mouthed soybeans grown by our family. They are very popular when fried.”
Hearing Zhang An praise the fragrant bean noodles, the old man's eyes widened with a smile.
Eating all the way, Zhang An finished the two yuan worth of glutinous rice cakes when he arrived at the door of the grocery store.
After entering the store and buying a large sprayer from the boss, Zhang An wanted to leave.
When I arrived at the door, I remembered the needlework my mother had given me, and then I went back to the boss to buy some.
Of course, there is also the grapevine that Zhang An has been talking about in his heart, which is impossible to forget.
When I came to Li Hongbin’s yard, I saw that no one had taken care of the grape trees for a long time, and the vines on the shelves had grown red apricots.
Zhang An didn't even need to open the courtyard door. He stood outside the courtyard wall and cut off several large sections.
Their grapes grow very well, and the grapes they produce are big, sweet and delicious, no worse than those of the big brands.
Zhang An thought that after returning home, he would ask them to take care of it frequently. Otherwise, it would be a pity for such a good thing to go to waste.
(End of this chapter)