Chapter 708: Chores in the Village
When Wang Fang called people from the village, Zhang An had already put all the fermented oil residue into the backyard.
More than a thousand kilograms of oil residue, plus the plant ash he mixed in, is quite a big pile.
After the caller came over, everyone began to carry the dung one by one to the orchard on the mountain behind.
A pair of dung pans cannot hold much, about sixty kilograms. Because the dung pans are relatively shallow, they cannot hold much, so it is easier than usual to carry water.
And the distance from the backyard to the orchard is not far, strictly speaking it is only a few steps.
And everyone is used to doing it on weekdays, so it’s not a big deal at all.
Although one load can only weigh about fifty or sixty pounds, Wang Fang found six people to come back.
Including Zhang An himself, he can pick up seven loads at a time, which is about four hundred kilograms.
On average, it takes ten minutes to go back and forth, and it takes about an hour to transport everything to the orchard.
Therefore, old people often say that work is easier when there are more people. This sentence is absolutely correct.
When Zhang An carried a load of oil residue into the orchard, Zhang Jianguo had already cleared out the weeds under the tree roots.
After all, most of the plants in their orchard are plantains, and other weeds only grow in the circle under the trees.
Although plantain is a weed in the countryside, it is a medicinal material after all. Zhang An's family has sold it several times before, so Zhang Jianguo will definitely not touch them. He will only clean up the weeds under the roots of the trees. , but it doesn’t take much time.
"Xiao An, the plantains are growing much better this year than last year. Why don't you contact Boss Xie and ask him to collect them."
Looking at the plantain growing very well on the ground, Zhang Jianwen said to Zhang An.
Now he and Wang Fang will be extremely happy every time they see the plantains in the forest.
After all, this thing can be sold for money, and the money sold every year is not small, of course they are happy to give it a smile.
"Okay, let me take some time to contact you in the next two days. It just so happens that the peaches are about to be picked, so we will solve the problem together."
After hearing what his father said, Zhang An was a little nervous After thinking about it for a moment, he nodded in agreement.
The plantains in their orchard have not been treated with any growth hormone or other drugs. They grow completely on their own, and their growth rate is relatively slow.
But this year’s rain was very abundant, and the weather was neither drought nor flood, so not only did the plants grow better than last year, they also grew faster than last year’s batch.
Since the first time he came here to collect plantains, Xie Wentian would come regularly to collect them every year.
Even though he is no longer in urgent need of it as he was a few years ago, he still takes care of it, and the price he gives is not low, much higher than that of his peers.
Of course, not everyone can receive such treatment, only Zhang An.
Because he felt that Zhang An helped him a lot that time, and he had to remember this favor.
It is precisely because of this that everyone who has dealt with Xie Wentian thinks he is a good person, so they are willing to continue to cooperate with him.
So it’s not unreasonable for people’s business to be so big.
After Zhang Jianguo knew that his son had an arrangement, he said no more.
Zhang An poured the oil residue and plant ash in the dung pan onto the ground, then put the tender grass that his father had cut into the dung pan and carried it back down the mountain to feed the animals.
Even though their family has planted several acres of pasture, another crop will grow quickly after they are cut, so they don’t have to worry about forage at all.
However, after driving the deer herd back this year, the reserve of green fodder in previous years can no longer keep up. This winter, we may need to mix some dry straw.
But if there were other sources of fodder on weekdays, Zhang An would definitely harvest the few acres of forage in the depressions and turn them into green storage for storage.
In this way, the livestock at home will have enough silage fodder in winter instead of eating bland dry straw.
The manure basket containing grass is different from the oil residue. If the oil residue is contained, it should not be more than the manure pan, otherwise it will be scattered on the ground.
It is very simple to pack the grass. Just stuff it in. The grass that can be stuffed into the dung pan can press against the head of the pole.
In this way, you can hold a lot of grass in one pick.
Several other people who came to help saw Zhang An carrying the grass back home. After pouring out the oil residue, they also came to load the grass and carry it down the mountain together.
Although Zhang An's family invited them here mainly to topdress the fruit trees, they were happy to do such a convenient thing without Zhang An's family having to ask.
After all, Zhang An’s family pays a lot of wages. Now, it is also the job with the highest daily wage around.
So as long as there is something that can be done, everyone is willing to do it. On the one hand, they want the work they do to be worthy of the wages they get, and on the other hand, they want to leave a diligent impression on Zhang An's family. In this case , if you have a job in the future, you will definitely come to them first.
I have to say that this is very useful. Every time Wang Fang is looking for someone, he has his own scale in mind, that is, people must be diligent.
In this way, everyone carried a load of oil residue and plant ashes to the orchard, and came back with a load of green grass.
However, there was not much cut grass, and everyone only picked it two or three times before it was all done.
When all the oil residue and plant ash were transported, Zhang An told them how to topdress.
In fact, the process is very simple. You only need to lift up the circle of soil under the tree roots, then put in the oil residue that Zhang An mixed with plant ash, and finally cover it with soil.
Doing this is just like going to the field to fertilize corn on weekdays. The people present are very experienced and can do it at a glance.
So just after Zhang An finished his demonstration, everyone started to do it.
Zhang Jianguo, who had cut the grass, also joined the team of top dressing like Zhang An. After all, if there was one more person to do it, it could be done earlier.
Wang Fang originally came over, but Zhang An called her back directly.
Although after Zhang An opened his mouth, she still wanted to work hard, but when Zhang An brought out the great god Xiao Siqi, Wang Fang gave up and went home to take care of her grandson.
After working for half a day, Zhang An put down his tools and went to the peach grove next to him to pick some peaches so that everyone could quench their thirst while they rested.
This is their family's usual practice. Every time they work, they will provide some food for everyone.
This time it happened that the peaches were ripe. If there were no peaches, he would look for other things.
It is precisely because of this that many people in the village are willing to help Zhang An's family work.
After all, everyone wants to have other good benefits while getting a high salary.
"Zhang An, don't be in a hurry right now. If not, just come with me and help."
Before it was time for lunch, Zhang Jianwen had already Came to the door.
"I'm not in a hurry. If you have any questions, uncle, just ask." Zhang An estimated that it would take two days to complete the top dressing. There was no rush. At this moment, Zhang An readily agreed. Zhang Jianwen.
After all, according to Zhang Jianwen's temperament, he would always go to others when something happens, especially when he is doing the work by himself. If he continues to open this mouth, it proves that he needs help. Maybe The truth is none other than yourself.
“Isn’t this the purpose of planting some road monuments in the village to guide the way? We went to the stone quarry to ask, and those people were like lions, so we were unwilling to spend the money. It happened that the villagers, Mr. Huang and others A few of them can carve monuments, so after discussion, we decided to do it ourselves to save the money and make it cheaper for others. However, some of them can carve, but they are not good at writing, and those who can write are very ugly. So I came to ask you to come over and help, write the words on the road monuments first, and then let them carve them."
Zhang Jianwen briefly explained the matter to Zhang An in one breath, and then grabbed a peach himself. I took a bite.
As the country joins the World Trade Organization, the economy has developed faster and faster in recent years, and this small mountain village can also feel it.
After all, in the past two years, the number of people visiting during holidays has increased year by year, and this year it has reached a new height.
As the number of visitors gradually increased, the beautiful mountains nearby gradually came into everyone's sight.
And Changqing is a Caotai team that has just been established, and many things need to be improved.
Although at the beginning of the year, the village spent a lot of effort to repair the nearby mountain roads.
However, the mountain roads in the mountains are crisscrossed and complex, which is not a problem for those who are familiar with them. People who are not familiar with them can easily get lost, so it is very necessary to plant road markers at the intersections to guide the way.
Everyone has been busy for a while in the past two days. After a few days of free time, the village plans to take care of this matter.
In this way, it will come in handy when the National Day holiday arrives in the near future.
There are many people in the whole village who can write, but not many can write well. They can be counted on two hands.
Moreover, it is even more difficult to write this word on a stone tablet and it needs to be beautiful. There are very few people who know how to do it.
Strictly speaking, apart from Zhang Yixing and Zhang An, there are only two old people named Zhang.
But I’m too old. If I just write a few words, it’s okay to ask someone to help me.
But they have a lot of stone tablets to build today, so it's definitely not possible to call the two elders to help.
So in this case, Zhang An, who is young, strong and capable of doing this, became the first choice.
"This is a big deal, Zhang An, you go ahead, we are here, it doesn't matter if you are missing."
Before Zhang An could say anything, several villagers who came to help Already spoken.
The village has been getting better and better in the past two years. No matter whose family it is, all the villagers in Changqing Village have tasted the benefits.
So now when we hear about collective things, everyone's enthusiasm is very high.
"Then everyone will have to work harder, I will go there with my uncle."
Hearing this, Zhang An smiled and said to everyone.
Actually, he had no intention of declining.
Before leaving, Zhang Jianwen also handed over a few peaches.
Because the peaches in the past two days were very delicious, he would no longer be polite to Zhang An.
Zhang An followed Zhang Jianwen to the dam behind the village, only to see that there were many lumpy stones piled here.
Dunzi stones are still very common these days. In the past few years, many people liked to use them to build walls when building houses.
The shape of this thing is square. It only needs a stonemason to chisel it down, and the resulting stone wall is very beautiful.
In today's Changqing Village, most of the houses are built of Dunzi stone, which look very beautiful, like works of art.
Of course, its role does not end there. Large and flat stones can also be ground and used as road monuments or tombstones.
After all, there is no cutting technology like that of later generations. Many roadstones and tombstones are chiseled and polished from a single piece.
“Oh, so much has been done. When did they get it, I didn’t even notice it.”
Zhang An really didn’t think of such a pile of stones being brought to the village. Hear a little information.
"It took only these two days to call someone here. You were not at home at that time, and you seemed to have helped take Zhou Yang's family to the hospital."
While Zhang Jianwen was explaining to Zhang An, he threw the peach he brought to Huang Weimin and the others here.
Zhang An’s peaches are very big. If he hadn’t thought of bringing them to a few people, he wouldn’t have taken so many.
"It must have cost a lot of money. These stones are all polished flat."
Zhang An looked at them and found that they were all polished stone tablets. They were piled up like this. , I'm afraid it will cost a lot of money.
“It didn’t cost much. What we bought were all rough stones. Otherwise, we would have gone directly to them. We polished them ourselves with rough stones. The ones below are still rough. Stone.”
Huang Weimin shook his head and pointed to the grinding tools placed next to him.
The stele that Zhang An saw was actually just the surface layer, and the ones covered underneath were all untreated rough stones.
"That's about the same, but it would be a lot more troublesome to do it yourself."
The price is completely different between buying the stele stone directly and buying the rough stone and polishing it yourself. .
However, it is also troublesome to polish the stone monument now. On the one hand, it requires a stonemason who knows this technology, and on the other hand, it takes a lot of time.
"Anyway, there are people in our village who can do it. It will definitely be cost-effective to buy it and polish it ourselves. In this way, the village saves a lot of money. We also get some wages from those who come to help polish it. It is much better than those who get it cheaper."
Zhang Jianwen has always been very careful about things in the village, especially where money is needed.
Now that he can save a lot of money by spending money in and out like this, he is simply not too satisfied.
“Haha, this is called not letting the middlemen make the difference.”
Zhang An calculated it and found it to be true. Anyway, we are not busy with farm work now, and everyone has plenty of time. Rural people have so much time. Not that valuable.
"Okay, okay, it's almost time to rest. It's time to start working. Let's start with the largest piece. If this was planted at the entrance of the village, Zhang An, please see how to write it appropriately."
After several people chatted for a while, Zhang Jianwen blew the horn to start work and pointed to a huge rectangular stone tablet that had been carried over.
After hearing what Zhang Jianwen and the others said about the words they wanted to write, Zhang An immediately knew that they not only needed to write big characters, but also had to write super-large ones.
Fortunately, he has deep skills and can still grasp it.
(End of this chapter)