Chapter 591 Lively Fieldside
Early in the morning, with the morning sun in the sky, Zhang An got up and sharpened his family's sickle in the yard.
Now that every household is harvesting rice, Zhang An’s family will naturally not be left behind.
The most taboo thing for rural people is that they work slower than others. No one wants to finish all the work in other people’s fields, leaving only their own family.
Generally speaking, if the work at home is done faster or earlier than others, it doesn’t matter. Others will only say that this guy is so diligent.
But if it were the other way around, others might say that this family is lazy or bad at work.
So many people don’t want to be hardworking themselves, but when they see others going to the fields, they become panicked and simply start to take action.
At home at the moment, Wang Fang is in charge of cooking food, Zhang Jianguo is in charge of finding everything needed for the rice harvest, and Zhang An is in charge of sharpening the sickle.
There were four sickles in total. Before Zhang An had polished them, Zhang and his party had already come down from the mountain.
After breakfast, Zhang An, his father and his son, and Zhang and his party went to the fields carrying sickles.
In the morning, the main force had to go to the fields to cut out the rice, so that it could be beaten with a bucket in the afternoon, so Wang Fang did not follow.
There is no other way, because today is not the weekend and Su Ying has to go to class, so she can only let her watch Xiao Siqi first, and she is also preparing lunch.
This year, the Zhang An family did not hire anyone to help with the work like in previous years, only their own family members.
It’s not that I don’t want to invite, but because during this period, people in the village are basically busy harvesting their own rice, and they can’t invite anyone for a while.
Even the two uncles of Zhang An’s family did not gather together to harvest rice as before.
Because a few days ago, Uncle Zhang An took on a job to build a house for a family in a nearby village. At this time, it is estimated that the project is only halfway through and there is still no time to spare. Carry out autumn harvest.
As for Zhang An’s third uncle’s family, things are not easy either. The kiwis are about to mature, and their family’s thoughts are more on the orchard. The rice can still wait for two more days.
It is precisely for this reason that the Zhang An family has difficulty recruiting people.
However, their family only has six acres of rice in total. Although there are relatively few people in the family, according to the normal progress, the harvest can be completed in two or three days at most.
Not to mention Zhang An, a guy who races cattle and horses. Although he doesn't work much on weekdays, once he does, one person is better than several people.
It is said that July is hot and August is still young. Now that the Mid-Autumn Festival is over, the temperature has completely dropped.
The lingering power of the autumn tiger has long disappeared. The weather at this time is truly crisp and very pleasant. Working in the fields at this time is much better than in the previous months.
But precisely because autumn is approaching, the dew in the morning is getting heavier day by day.
When we came to the field, the fruitful chicken blood rice plants were all covered with crystal clear dewdrops, shining like diamonds in the morning sun.
This is why during the autumn harvest, the rice is cut and placed in the field in the morning, and then the bucket is carried to the field to thresh the millet in the afternoon.
Because there is too much dew on the rice in the morning, it is difficult to knock the grains off. Even if they can be knocked off, they will be covered by moisture, which will cause the taste to deteriorate after drying.
Cut it first and put it in the field. After waiting for a few hours, the dew will be taken away by the sun. Therefore, afternoon is generally the most suitable time for threshing millet.
At this moment in Zhang An's field, what is different from other families is that, whether it is Zhang An, Zhang Jianguo, or Zhang Yixing, all three of them are wearing a pair of sleeves on their arms.
Even if the sun doesn't shine, it will still be very hot when working. Most people basically want to wear less clothes. Even if they are wearing a long-sleeved singlet, they will pull up the sleeves.
But this is not possible here in Zhang An’s family, because the grains on the chicken blood rice have long burrs.
If you cut rice with bare arms for comfort, you will definitely feel extremely itchy at night.
Of course, when other people cut Nuogu, it is almost the same. Although the burrs of Nuogu are not as long as those of chicken blood rice, they will be very itchy and even rash when they prick people.
So when Zhang An and the others were busy harvesting rice at home, when they arrived at Nuogu, the adults would not let them do anything and told them to go home first, just for fear that they, the children, would be stabbed.
Of course, they didn’t understand their parents’ good intentions at that time. They just felt that it was a happy thing to be able to go home from the fields early.
“Although there was some drought in the first half of the year, this year’s rice is still quite good. This batch of rice is comparable to the previous one and a half.”
When harvesting the rice , Zhang Jianguo looked at the rice in his field, with a smile that couldn't be hidden on his face. Looking at it, this year is definitely a good harvest year.
Only after last year’s dismal harvest, will everyone feel that such fruits are hard-won.
“That’s not all. Not only are there more grains, but look at the number of millet hanging on each rice tree. It’s also much more than last year. It basically starts hanging from the waist. There are no empty shells.”
Although Zhang Yixin did not farm, he was very happy while harvesting rice, because emotions are contagious, especially the joy of this harvest.
In previous years, it was not necessarily a good thing if the rice nests were too big, because for many rice plants that were too big, the ones hanging in the middle were basically empty husks without rice, and most people took them back. At home, it can only be used to feed cattle, horses and livestock.
But this year is different. This year's rice not only has large nests, but there are also no empty husks on the rice plants. This shows that this year's output can definitely increase significantly.
When the rice is cut, it is first placed on the ridge of the field. Two or three nests of rice are made into a handful, and then the rice is continued to be cut into the field.
This way, when the bucket is brought over in the afternoon, the place for the bucket will be free.
Because Zhang An’s family has a lot of chicken-blood rice nests, two or three nests of rice are already a lot. If there are more, it will be impossible to carry them in one handful.
At Zhang An's house, while the three of them were cutting rice in the field, many people came one after another from the Dongli yard to watch on the edge of the field.
As a result, not much rice has been cut in the field, but the edge of the field is very lively, just like the big leaders of later generations standing on the edge of the field, watching the farmers harvest in autumn.
"Zhang An, your family is going to have a big harvest of millet this year. You must leave four to five hundred catties for me."
These tenants are basically from the city. Few of them have ever planted fields themselves, but this does not prevent them from seeing what a good harvest means.
They came here not just to watch and join in the fun, but more importantly to buy rice from the Zhang An family. Because everyone here eats chicken blood rice bought at Zhang An’s house.
At first, they just thought that this chicken blood rice was rare and different from the rice they usually eat, so they bought some from Zhang An's family and tried it to see what the difference was.
But after eating it for a while, they clearly discovered the benefits that eating chicken blood rice can bring to themselves and their families. This is an effect that ordinary rice has no effect at all. Even if you say it, you are a baby. Pass.
It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality.
If they are used to eating the best rice such as chicken blood rice, few people can get used to it if they are asked to eat the ordinary rice before.
Although Zhang An's chicken blood rice is much more expensive than ordinary rice, they have no intention of switching to other ordinary rice, because given their conditions, it is completely affordable.
After all, no one who can afford to rent a yard in Dongli Courtyard has poor conditions. Each of these old men and women are either retired workers in the city or their sons can earn money. .
But the problem now is that even if they have money, Zhang An's chicken blood rice is not something they can buy if they want.
This may have been possible in the past, because there were few people buying, and the Zhang An family could supply it. It was normal to buy a hundred or two kilograms.
But later, more and more people discovered the benefits of chicken blood rice, and everyone came to Zhang An's house to buy rice.
But because there are too many people, Zhang An’s family’s output is simply in short supply, and there are some kind-hearted uncles and aunts, so Zhang An is embarrassed to refuse anyone.
So a decision was made to limit purchases. Each household could only buy as much as they wanted in a year, so that everyone could buy it, and no one would be offended if a bowl of water was even.
Some people also thought of asking people who didn't come to the house often to come to Zhang An to buy rice, but Zhang An knew every household in Dongli Courtyard. After that failed, no one did this again.
Of course, the limited purchase quantity is not enough for them to eat for a whole year, at most it can only last for half a year.
So when they saw Zhang An’s family harvesting rice in the fields today, and it was a bumper harvest, they all hurried over to see if they could buy more next time, which is why the scene just happened. .
"Yes, Zhang An, your millet harvest will definitely be quite big this year. Next time we buy rice, we can't just sell the same amount as last year."
"Yes, yes, yes "Last year it was because of a bad year that our harvest was poor. This year's harvest is good. You must let us buy more."
"I think so too. We also know that it is not easy for you to grow rice. It’s okay if you don’t raise the price, as long as you can sell more to us.”
When one person mentioned it, other old men and women followed suit, fearing that if they didn’t say anything, others would have more than they did. Buy the same.
"That's true. It's good that your chicken blood rice has increased in price. It's not an ordinary thing. At the current price, we still feel bad about buying it."
In the crowd, several old ladies wished that Zhang An would increase the price quickly and sell it more expensively. The more expensive the better, so that with fewer people buying, they would be able to sell more.
Zhang An recognized these old ladies. They were the best-off among the tenants of Dongli Courtyard. The sons and daughters of the family were basically big bosses, not money-hungry owners at all.
Others didn’t think there was anything wrong with what these people said, because although Zhang An’s chicken blood rice was more expensive than ordinary rice, it still couldn’t match the value of this chicken blood rice.
You must know that the imported rice does not taste as good as this chicken blood rice, but the price is several times or even ten times as much.
"Okay, okay, ladies and gentlemen, I promise you that everyone can buy more this year. We will talk about the price increase later. I will definitely not increase the price for you blindly. We will see when the time comes. The price of grain will be determined, but how much we can buy will not be known until we finish harvesting the rice, so don’t worry, okay?” Ann felt like her head was buzzing.
I immediately agreed to everyone in a dumbfounded voice. Otherwise, they might not be able to leave in the field today.
Looking at this year’s harvest, it is indeed quite good. It seems to be much larger than the previous years when the harvest was the best, so I guarantee that I can sell more to them for my own use at home. It's not impossible.
It just so happened that I spent too much money on a car this year, so I had to make amends from all aspects.
After receiving a positive reply, all the old men and women in Dongli Courtyard became happy.
Although Zhang An didn't say how much they could buy next time, it would definitely be more than they could buy before, and that's enough.
"Okay, okay, we're not in a hurry. Anyway, I have nothing to do. How about Zhang An, go find some sickles, and I can help you cut them. Don't look at me like this, old man, but I used to go to the countryside as a When I was an educated youth, I also did farm work. "
The old man and the old lady finally calmed down for a while, but an old man had a whim when he watched Zhang An and the others harvesting rice. Help Zhang An's family.
"Yes, so many of us are idle. Zhang An, your family has so much land, why don't we come and help."
The old man said this , and other people began to respond one after another, all gearing up, as if they were about to reach the sky in the next second.
"Hey, there are only a few acres of land. It's not enough for us to cut it ourselves. How can we need you to do it?"
When Zhang An heard this, he immediately shook his head and refused. , although he also wanted to take the rice back home as soon as possible, but let these old men and old ladies forget it.
They are not ordinary people, Zhang An does not dare to invite them.
And rice can’t just be cut casually with a sickle. For those who don’t know how to cut, a lot of millet will be shaken off in the field when the sickle is struck.
"Okay, I have to be busy harvesting rice, so I won't chat with you any more."
Seeing what they wanted to say, Zhang An immediately added.
If he continues to talk to them and move the sickle at the same time, he will have to cut off his hand sooner or later.
After hearing what Zhang An said, the old men and women gradually dispersed one by one. Anyway, for them, the purpose of coming here was achieved.
After everyone on the edge of the field had finished walking, it was completely quiet and seemed like they were working.
I was busy talking to old men and old ladies just now, and then I realized that my father and old man had already cut to the front.
So at this moment, Zhang An was also ready to use his strength. He bent down and started to start the small motor. With one swish of a knife after another, nests of rice were cut up, and he soon surpassed Zhang Jianguo and Zhang An. Zhang and his party were two people.
(End of this chapter)