Chapter 212 Beating the soy sauce broom
Today is the county fair, so there is no need to shout. Anyone from all over the country who wants to buy meat before the year will spontaneously come forward when they see the meat stall. Ask about the price and see the quality of the meat, and it quickly becomes a commotion.
Another thing is: wild boar meat is more than one yuan cheaper than domestic fat pig meat, especially the meat of large boar, which has a strong taste that cannot be fooled, and the price is at least two yuan cheaper than domestic pork.
This guy can do a lot of things if he only spends two yuan. If he buys ten kilograms, he will lose twenty yuan.
Many budget-conscious people knew that wild boar meat was cheap. After asking about the price, they lined up outside the stall.
As for wild boar’s strong flavor and texture, I’m not afraid of that.
The Chinese New Year is almost here, so there is plenty of time to deal with it.
The seasonings on the market are not as scarce as in previous years. The fishy smell of wild boar meat can be suppressed by spending more time on it.
......
“You’ve never sold meat before, right? You’re not sure how much you’re going to get, so why do you keep picking up the thin ones and cutting them off?”
An old lady from a village south of the city muttered dissatisfiedly.
"Auntie, I'm a novice, but don't be picky about the fat ones. You won't be able to sell my meat after you pick it out."
Chen Ling was helpless. The way.
These wild boars still have a lot of fat on their bodies before they spend the winter. For example, under their bellies, this is where they store the most fat.
The village women are picky and picky.
They always want Chen Ling to cut them in places like this, where there is a lot of fat, but that won't work.
However, if you open your door to do business, you cannot drive away customers.
At this time, Wang Susu picked up the knife and cut off a slightly fat piece for the old lady, about two or three taels, which was given to her as a separate gift.
The old lady suddenly smiled, happily took out the money, wrapped the meat and left happily.
When the people behind saw it, although they didn’t say anything, they also had expectations in their hearts.
After picking out the meat, they eagerly moved forward, waiting for Wang Susu to add some meat to them.
Wang Susu did not disappoint them either, not to mention the scale was high.
When Chen Ling buys ten pounds of meat, he cuts off a little more, but often does not let them remove it.
A lot of people buy such an affordable scale.
So much so that Chen Ling shouted that each person should cut at least five kilograms, and no one would say anything if he didn’t sell it if it was less.
It’s the Chinese New Year, so if you want to buy more, buy more.
Of course, if possible, I still prefer to buy fat pork.
The fat pork is rich in oil and water and tastes delicious.
Compared to wild boar, which is almost entirely lean meat, people tend to regard fatty pork as meat eaten during the New Year.
But this year’s floods and meat prices have made it impossible for many people to afford fatty pork.
It's cheaper to go to the water with your head and feet, but you can't put it on the table during the Chinese New Year, and you can't bring these things to relatives when they come to eat in the first month.
These things are not serious meat in the eyes of most people.
So the second-rate wild boar meat became the choice.
There are no customers in front of Chen Ling's meat stall. After 11 o'clock in the morning, there are only 30 kilograms of wild boar left for sale.
It can be said that it sold out quite quickly.
It’s just that by this time, the wild boar meat was inevitably all lean meat, and it was a bit unsaleable.
Often people come over to take a look, look at the price, and then leave.
But Chen Ling and his wife didn't care. If they couldn't sell wild boar, they would sell rabbits.
The price of rabbits is very cheap all year round, and there are many people eating them. Most of them are sold quickly.
Chen Ling weighed people and quoted prices, while Wang Susu kept accounts and collected the money.
In a short time, the rabbit alone sold for fifty or sixty yuan.
Including wild boar meat, it sold for more than 500 yuan in half a morning.
......
At noon, Qin Qiumei and Zhong Xiaoyun knew that they were coming to the county market to sell things today, so they came over and asked them to go home for dinner.
Chen Ling and Chen Ling were not polite and had lunch at Qin Qiumei's house.
After the meal, Chen Ling returned to the small courtyard in the south of the city to guard the stall, selling the remaining pork and rabbits while reading miscellaneous books, while Wang Susu and Qin Qiumei went to the market to hang out.
Wang Susu rarely comes to the county town to attend the market.
Now I have two friends walking around with me, but I am very happy.
But she was pregnant after all, so she slowly walked around in circles on the market, feeling the joyful atmosphere at the market when the New Year was about to come, and then came back.
When they came back, the three women each carried two white plastic bulk wine bottles in their hands, and Chen Ling was stunned.
"What are you doing? You were talking about drinking yesterday, do you really want to buy some wine?"
"No, no, what about drinking? I just bought a clean wine bottle, and I will bring back some soy sauce and vinegar later."< br>
Wang Susu smiled at him and pointed to the old street to the north: "I just met a soy sauce old man at the market. We told him the location and he said we can transfer to him later. Let’s come here.”
“Oh, that’s right, it’s Chinese New Year, it’s time to get some fresh soy sauce and vinegar.”
Chen Ling nodded and looked at the three of them, “So. Did you each buy these two pots and nothing else?”
"No, I want to buy but I can't. There are so many things, I have to let you drive the oxcart."
Wang Susu counted on her fingers: "Think about it, fire paper, incense candles, You should buy statues of gods, couplets, blessing characters, window grilles, lanterns, and other miscellaneous things that we can’t get back."
"..."
"It makes sense, wait and see. I'll catch up with the bullock cart and take you to buy it later."
"Okay, okay, you can take us for a tour again."
The four of them were talking and laughing, and not long after, there were waves of old shouts coming from far away.
“Sell~ soy sauce~make vinegar~”
“……”
“Sell~ soy sauce~make vinegar~”
"..."
I saw a black-faced old man driving a donkey cart slowly over. There were several large barrels on the cart. From a distance, it seemed that you could clearly see the black oil stains on the walls of the barrels and smell the faint smell of oil. The salty flavor of soy sauce.
"Master, here."
Wang Susu waved, and the old man immediately stopped shouting and drove the donkey cart over.
"Oh, they are selling wild boar meat. It turns out you are a family. When I came here, I wanted to buy a few kilograms, but they were all thin."
The old man showed his face He smiled with yellow teeth, then jumped off the donkey cart: "How was the sales this afternoon?"
"It's not bad. The price has been reduced and it's almost sold out."
Chen Ling walked to the donkey cart and looked at it. There were several barrels on the cart. There were two or three kinds of soy sauce and vinegar in different colors. The taste is different and the price is also different.
“Looks like I’ve made money. Come on, let’s take a pick and see which one you want.”
The old man opened the lids one by one, and there was a strong salty and delicious smell of soy sauce. The sour smell of vinegar hits your nose.
Chen Ling leaned over, smelled it carefully, and then picked out the soy sauce and vinegar he wanted.
"That's it. I smell these two kinds of soy sauce and vinegar. They taste good."
"Hey, you have a lot of wisdom in this life. You picked the best one at the first try."
Old Man Stands He gave him a thumbs up and showed him the small wooden sign hanging on the side of the barrel. The marked price was indeed the most expensive.
Chen Ling smiled, turned around and asked Qin Qiumei: "What about you, do you want to pick?"
"If you don't want to pick, I'll do what you want."
As the two of them talked, they handed the pot in their hands to the old man, "The three of us in the family all make a pot of soy sauce and a pot of vinegar. We ask for so much, so you have to pay more."
In this day and age, soy sauce, vinegar, and grain and oil all come in bulk and leave in scattered pieces. They are bought and sold naked without any packaging.
The pot of soy sauce and vinegar they made can last for two or three months without any problem.
In other homes, a glass bottle the size of a beer bottle is enough.
In comparison, they are not all big customers.
"Don't worry, it's absolutely real."
The old man responded, then put the funnel on the mouth of the pot in front of Chen Ling, and then took out a bamboo bucket from the bucket.
This bucket is quite old and has a rope attached to the long bamboo handle.
I saw the old man put the bucket into the big bucket of soy sauce, and lifted it skillfully and quickly. The bucket was filled with a bucket of soy sauce, and then he poured it into the funnel, and the soy sauce flowed down. The funnel flowed into the white wine jug.
One bucket after another...
As the sound of soy sauce pouring into the pot continued to sound, the white plastic wine bottle slowly became dyed black and red.
After adding soy sauce, add vinegar.
After the three of them finished playing and paid, many people with soy sauce pots and vinegar bottles gathered around, talking and laughing, waiting to make soy sauce.
Isn’t that right? It’s the end of the New Year. How can we cook meat, cook rice and make dumplings without soy sauce?
……
"Let's make soy sauce and sell good vinegar~"
At around three o'clock in the afternoon, when Chen Ling finished selling wild boar meat, he took Wang Susu and three others to the market to buy new year's goods. The old man selling soy sauce is still shouting along the streets.
Listening to the distant shouts of the old man, Chen Ling hummed a little tune and walked with three women in the market. One more thing and the same thing again.
As the saying goes: After Laba, it is the New Year.
But in fact, after the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, the flavor of the new year will become stronger day by day.
It’s the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month.
The village is bustling with activity early in the morning, with fried melon seeds, fried peanuts, and popcorn. Sure enough, the New Year flavor is getting richer.
On this day, Chen Ling didn't get up early at home, and didn't get up until nine o'clock for dinner.
I didn’t make any serious breakfast.
Wang Susu just mixed the walnut kernels at home with white sesame seeds, crushed them with a rolling pin, stir-fried them in a pan, then mixed the dough with pancakes and baked a few walnut pancakes.
The young couple ate fragrant walnut cakes, drank hot goat milk, and sat at the table with pen and paper to calculate their accounts.
It’s the end of the year, I’ve bought new year’s goods, and there’s nothing else to spend.
It’s time to do a rough calculation of this year’s income and expenses, so that you have a rough idea.
This is very important to my wife.
Chen Ling didn't have any objections, so he just went with her to figure it out.
After settling the accounts, Wang Susu was quite satisfied.
Because the cost of building a farm was not as much as she thought.
The money made from the chicken and duck eggs sold at home in the past six months was a bit beyond her expectation.
“After the farm is built, if we raise more chickens and ducks, can we increase the number of miles more?”
The little daughter-in-law bit the ballpoint pen holder and fell into fantasy.
Chen Ling was also deep in thought.
Looking at the numbers on the bill, he frowned slightly.
I thought: "I won’t raise rabbits next year. They will eat a lot and poop a lot, and I will waste my time cleaning them every day. In the end, I won’t be able to sell them for much money."
The ones that sell for the least money are rabbits. And quail too.
The quails are excusable, since they are few in number.
In addition, Chen Ling raised this thing just for the quail eggs.
So the quails can stay, but forget about the rabbits.
"By the way, I have to go over to Han Chuang for his wedding in two days. Have you removed the share money?"
"You have removed it, I will remember it."
Wang Susu smiled, closed the account book, put it away in the drawer, and then said: "I will go and send the pig hair and bristles to Wen Li, and we will tie the broom when we get back."
"Okay, I will Go and pack things up."
Chen Ling nodded and went to the woodshed to take out the two bundles of sorghum ears that Yuqiang's wife had sent yesterday.
The new year is approaching, and the broom as a cleaning tool must also be replaced with a new one.
I’ll need it for cleaning my house in the next few days.
Here they call this tie broom a tie broom.
When tying brooms, most of the sorghum ears are used. The husks on the sorghum ears cut back in autumn are scraped off and soaked in water to make the broom strong and durable.
Of course, reed can also be made, but it is not as durable as sorghum. It is the same as the reed mat, which will be broken if it is pulled.
His sorghum ears and broom millet seeds were sent by Yuqiang’s wife, and they needed to be replaced with some wild boar bristles and pig hair.
That’s all.
Wang Susu sent the bristles over and came back with two binding devices for broomsticks.
The binding device is called "dengzi" in local dialect.
To put it bluntly, it is a wide belt tied around the waist, with a crossbar tied in front, and a piece of beef tendon string wrapped around the crossbar. The string reaches to the feet, and there is a "T" shaped crutch at the foot.
After tying up the sorghum pole and broomstick with the hemp rope, step on the crossbar with both feet and wrap it into small sections on the broomstick. After wrapping a small section, tie a knot, and finally tie it at the key point. Tie two wires together to make it very strong.
In my impression, the handle of a broom rarely gets broken. Even if the hair underneath is polished, the handle is still good. It can even be used to teach disobedient bears. This is why.
"Do you have enough hemp rope at home?"
"Of course there is enough. Before the construction of our farm, I had all the hemp rope and iron wire that could be used. I would definitely use it to tie a few brooms. It’s not finished.”
Chen Ling said and found two balls of hemp rope.
Because there are not only one or two brooms, it is not enough to just sweep the room.
There are also cooking brooms for the kitchen, bed brooms for sweeping the bed, and large brooms for sweeping the yard.
Although the big broom is not made of sorghum ears, but tied with bamboo tips or side branches, hemp rope and iron wire are indispensable.
"Okay, let's start then. I remember Aling, you said before that you learned how to use broomsticks from dad, so let's compete."
Wang Susu waved. The two broom sticks in the waving hand said with a smile.
In rural areas at this time, many people of their generation still knew how to tie a broom.
I have been taught by old people since I was a child.
You can make enough food and clothing by yourself.
I really don’t know how to tie a broom, so I went to pull two broom seedlings outside the village and came back, but I didn’t know how to buy them.
"Let's compete, who is afraid of whom."
Chen Ling put the sickle on the ground, grabbed two yellow sorghum stalks and started to do it.
Broom binding is actually a dirty job.
In particular, to make sorghum ears into broomsticks, the shells need to be scraped clean, beaten, and soaked in water. The sorghum shells and dust often fill the yard, which is very choking.
But what Yuqiang’s wife gave her was clean and ready for use with a broom.
This saves a lot of trouble.
Broom binding is actually not too complicated.
A "wooden pedal", a small curved sickle, and a ball of fine hemp rope.
After preparation, in order to facilitate bundling, it is often necessary to use a hammer to flatten and chop the stalks at the tip of the sorghum.
Then divide every three sticks into small handfuls, and divide them into several small handfuls in total.
Then put the thin hemp rope used for binding next to you, hold the end of the hemp rope in your mouth, and tie the wooden stirrup around your waist.
Wang Susu couldn't tie it around her waist, so she found a tree stump and put it on. She spread a thick cotton pad on the tree stump and sat on it. She stepped on the pedal crossbar and began to tie the broom.
“From the south to the north, there are nine sutras on a broom.”
This sutra is naturally a rope sutra, which is also a knot, which means that most of the brooms need to be tied with nine knots to make them strong.
The nine rope ligations are completed.
It reached the top.
At this time, use a sickle to cut off the excess pole, and usually make a cone-like shape, which looks good and sells well.
Hang it on the wall and lean it behind the door, it will look good.
"I've tied a bunch."
Wang Susu picked up the sickle, cut off the top seedlings, and a beautiful and neat broom was tied.
“You are the first one, let’s see who is faster in the end.”
Chen Ling expressed dissatisfaction. After all, he was only a hand student, and he was only half-tied at this time, but he was learning things. Pretty fast.
He didn’t believe that he couldn’t even compare to his own wife.
Unfortunately, he discovered that he was still not as skillful as his wife.
It is not a broom for sale at home.
One person can make two sweeping brooms.
These four brooms are enough for next year.
So Wang Susu tied the two brooms quickly.
After tying them up, she tied up the remaining cooking brooms and bed brooms.
After Chen Ling finished binding, he took two big brooms for sweeping the yard.
I worked on it for a long time, so I didn’t have lunch until after two o’clock in the morning.
Before he could take a rest after eating, Wang Lixian came to the door again and told him that the New Year pig would be killed on the stage tomorrow. He was given a number in front of him. He would kill the pig early tomorrow and save money later. Heartbroken.
"Okay, I'll drive the pigs over early tomorrow."
Chen Ling agreed.
The broom is tied up on the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, and the New Year pig will be killed on the twenty-first day of the twelfth lunar month. After that, it will not stop for a day.
This is the daily routine in the last few days of the twelfth lunar month.
Busy, but busy is happy and fulfilling. The busier you are, the better the New Year will be, and you will be full of joy when you are busy.
(End of this chapter)