Chapter 218 Qingming Snail
I went to the mule and horse market today. Not only did I ride a few laps, but I also broadened my horizons. Chen Ling felt very satisfied and thought about it carefully before leaving. Thinking about it, he finally asked Lao Ba to take him to Erwazi's chicken farm to buy a few cages of hens.
The hens were caged when they were brought back, allowing them to lay eggs while recuperating.
When the farm is built and then released outside, it will be easy to adapt to it with the original chickens at home, and the quality of the eggs will also improve. If you spend some time and save a little, you can get it. Gathered and sold.
……
On the ninth day of February, the first rain of spring arrived.
In the early morning, when I opened the door, I was greeted by a slightly cool air. The yard was humid, and the thin raindrops fell slanting in the gentle spring breeze, hitting the treetops and the trees. On the tile roof, there were clear and continuous sounds of rain.
Going out of the house and outside the village, looking around, the fields and mountains seem to be shrouded in a light layer of gauze mist, the beauty is pure and ethereal.
The first spring rain has awakened the silence of the winter with warm and silky raindrops. Beside the field roads and on the ridges, spring grass buds can already be seen sprouting thinly, just in the hazy sky. In the drizzle, a very light touch of new green is looming.
Chen Ling led the cow and walked in the drizzle of early spring. From time to time, he would look up and let the cool and moist rain fall on his face, or he would bend down to grab a few young and green grass buds and put them in his mouth. Chew slightly and feel the taste of spring with the earthy fragrance.
The first rain in early spring diluted the laziness in his heart.
I was so excited that I didn’t even have time to have breakfast, so I brought the oxen over to plow the fields.
Plows, coir raincoats, and hoes have long been piled in the hay shed outside the farm for easy access.
“Good work, cow.”
Coming to the edge of the field, he hitched the little white cow to the plow. Chen Ling touched its big head and said, “Other cows are like you. When I was growing up, I was still playing around, but you have been helping the family with the work for more than half a year..."
The little white cow seemed to feel his thoughts, and lowered its big head to rub his belly, then licked his hand, and barked at him softly with a smile on his face, as if urging him.
It is true that Little White Bull likes to work best on rainy days.
“Let’s go to the fields.”
In the light morning mist and the continuous spring rain, Chen Ling drove the cattle to plow the fields. He held down the rake with his right hand and raised the whip with his left hand, flicking it lightly. Of course, the little white cow does not need to be driven with a whip, this is just to convey some instructions to it.
At this time, it walked leisurely and pulled the plow easily. Wherever it passed, the moist land left deep ditches. At the same time, the soil was turned over and became soft.
Now, Chen Ling is already familiar with such farm work and hardly feels tired anymore. He plowed continuously for nearly an hour before stopping to take a break, drink some water, and let the little white cow take a break.
At this time, Wang Zhenzhen ran over with a group of little children, followed by a group of local dogs. Seeing this, Heiwa Xiaojin rushed forward excitedly. This large group of children were in the loose land. Running around, even in the drizzle and covered in mud, I didn't mind, just laughing and joking.
Chen Ling ignored them and continued plowing after a short rest.
Until the rain gradually became heavier.
The little kids also ran back. Chen Ling looked at the time and saw that it was time to go home for breakfast, so he put the rake back into the hay shed, put on his raincoat and bamboo hat, and led the cow home. Walk.
This coir raincoat and bamboo hat were originally kept in the thatched house in Dongtian. Chen Ling wore them twice in a hurry. Who knew that they were very useful and did not know what kind of grass they were made of, so he took them out and used them all the time.
Now put on this raincoat and bamboo hat, walk slowly in the rain, breathe the moist and cool air in the morning, smell the fragrance of the earth, but feel a unique fresh breath of spring lingering in the air. In the heart, it seems that people also become ethereal.
The little white cow is also very happy. It likes rainy days like this very much, letting the fine raindrops wet its whole body, and it feels so comfortable that it can't help but call softly.
“Has the wealth gone to the ground?”
“Yes, I am feeding pigs.”
"Well, feed the pigs. Your uncle Yongsheng just bought the piglets on credit. You have to remember to feed them every day. They eat more."
"It's better to eat more. The price of pigs has risen this year." Hurry up, the pigs will be fatter and you can sell them for money."
"Haha, who knows what the price will be when it's time to sell it, it's just a matter of luck, the village is closed today."
"We won't start work anymore. We have a day off because of the rain."
"That's good, but you can spend time with your wife at home."
After entering the village, I casually greeted the villagers who came out to feed pigs and livestock after breakfast, and then returned home.
Wang Susu had already prepared breakfast. Simple white porridge, steamed buns, sauerkraut and pickles were placed on the table. Chen Ling ate slowly, and Wang Susu pulled up a chair and sat beside him, holding her hands While doing needlework, I talked to him.
Although compared with other men in the village, Chen Ling did less farm work, but he was not sparing at all when it came to dressing up.
That’s quite a lot of waste clothes and shoes.
No, just after breakfast, Wang Susu took him to the house to draw shoes, and wanted to make him some pairs of shoes for spring.
Because the shoes Chen Ling wore last fall are no longer usable.
"It's strange. You are already twenty-four years old after the New Year, but your feet are still growing? You seem to have grown a bit too." The little daughter-in-law muttered strangely.
Chen Ling chuckled: "I am in vain."
"Isn't it normal for people to be running around at twenty-three?"
The young couple were talking, Wang Zhenzhen rushed in covered with mud and water, carrying a fence and a fish basket.
"Sister, brother-in-law, look, I touched a lot of fish and shrimps. Let's make fish pot again at noon."
Wang Susu frowned immediately when she saw that she was wet all over: "Look, you did it again Like a mud monkey, are you going to the big weir pond?"
"Hey, we didn't go to the weir pond, we went to Laohewan."
Wang Zhenzhen was smiling. Show them the fish and shrimp in the fish basket. In addition to fish and shrimp, there are many snails in it.
"These fish and shrimp are too small to eat, but these snails are quite fat. I will touch some snails later and cook you a meal of snails at noon..."
Chen Ling opened the fish basket and took a look at it, then shook his head.
“Huh? Is the field snail delicious?”
“It’s delicious, Qingming snails, Saifei goose, Qingming snails, and Dragon Boat Festival shrimps are the most delicious.”
Tomb Sweeping Day is coming in a few days. At this time, the snails taste the most delicious, and the river mussels are also the fattest. They are no worse than eating fish and shrimps.
Things like snails and river mussels are best eaten in spring, especially before the Qingming Festival.
This is because the leeches and parasites in the river are not active enough before the Qingming Festival.
The river mussels at this time are the cleanest, the meat is the thickest, especially crispy, tender and delicious.
"Okay, go wash up and see how dirty you are."
Wang Susu felt uncomfortable seeing her dirty sister, so she dragged her out and walked out. .
"No, sister, I will wash it myself later. You are pregnant with the baby. Just rest well and don't worry about me."
"Hey, I want to touch the snails with my brother-in-law and wash them when we come back."
"What about the new paper the teacher gave you?"
"I'll write in the afternoon."
Wang Susu frowned. It rained lightly in the morning and the air was quite fresh, so she agreed to let her sister go out to play for a while. Unexpectedly, she went crazy again.
Seeing his wife like this, Chen Ling smiled and said: "It's okay, let her play for a day, how can she study all day?"
Wang Susu sighed softly after hearing this, "Then go play, listen to your brother-in-law, rest today and rest your brain."
In fact, she is the easiest to be soft-hearted. She is afraid that her sister will play too wild, so she forces herself. He hardened his heart and kept her at home to study.
Now that Chen Ling said this, she thought that her sister had not gone out to play much recently, and she really shouldn't keep her at home anymore.
My heart was relieved.
There is no way, she just can't help but persuade her, especially when Chen Ling persuades her, two or three sentences will be effective.
At the beginning of the year, I even let him buy land. Sometimes I regret it, but looking back, my husband is indeed a little different from others. When he wants to make money, others always seem to find a way. I don’t think he did anything. For most of last year, I have saved nearly 100,000 yuan. No one else has this ability, so I simply don’t think about it anymore.
"Brother-in-law, since these fish and shrimps can't be cooked, let's feed them to the kites."
Out of the door, Wang Zhenzhen held the fish basket and raised his little head to look at the toon tree outside the courtyard. .
"The kite doesn't eat fish and shrimps. If you feed it fish, you might as well feed it mice."
As Chen Ling spoke, he opened his mouth and whistled, and the magpie's nest in the toon tree was full of joy. A gray-brown yellow-clawed hawk emerged, passed through the heavy rain, and circled on Chen Ling's shoulder.
It was the original female kite.
After Chen Ling's temptation of food all winter, the kite was finally willing to get close to him and came out as soon as it was time for dinner. The main reason is that during the feeding period, Chen Ling not only fed it birds, but also fed it drinking spiritual water from the cave. The kite's spirituality has also become more and more abundant. Now it is extremely smart and can distinguish who is a good guy and who is a bad guy. Who is hostile and who is not hostile anymore.
I am no longer as scared as before when I meet people, like a frightened bird.
“Don’t you want to eat?”
Wang Zhenzhen picked up a small fish and stretched out his feet in front of the kite. As expected, the kite didn't even look at it, but moved along Chen Ling's shoulder and leaned towards his ear.
“I really don’t want to eat it.”
“It’s okay if the kite doesn’t eat it. Feed it to the chickens. If the chickens eat it, give them all the fish, shrimps and snails. We’ll catch them in the river later. " Chen Ling pointed to the cages of old hens he just bought yesterday and said.
"Okay."
Wang Zhenzhen didn't care about the rain, so he ran over to feed the chickens with the fish basket.
Then he turned around and shouted: "Brother-in-law, do you want to feed the pigeons?"
"No, the pigeons don't eat fish, they eat grain." When Chen Ling saw his sister-in-law going to feed the chickens, Chen Ling walked into the kitchen. , and fed the kite two mouthfuls of spiritual water.
After feeding, let the kite return to its nest, scoop out the diluted spiritual water with a ladle and add water to the chickens in the chicken coop.
For most of last year, he not only had nothing to do, but also observed and explored inside and outside the cave during his free time at home.
Then he discovered that as he drank the spiritual water every day, the effect on him and Wang Susu gradually became less obvious.
As for poultry and livestock, they have not been allowed to drink. They only drink diluted spiritual water, and they are not fed every day, so it has always been effective.
Like Heiwa and Xiaojin, when I first picked them up, they drank two sips of spiritual water and then opened their eyes.
However, regular drinking for more than half of last year did not make them become more evil.
The same goes for the little white cow.
In the final analysis, the effect of this thing is most obvious at the beginning.
The same goes for plants and crops.
Two liters of spiritual water are effective. Two liters of spiritual water can harvest crops, rejuvenate dead trees, and make fruit trees full of fruit, but they cannot make small saplings grow into towering trees all at once.
Of course, this is in the outside world, when the spiritual water is taken out of the cave and used in the outside world.
It is better in the cave.
The branches from cuttings can also grow, but they still cannot grow into towering trees. They still need time to continue growing.
This is what Chen Ling discovered last year on the spiritual water in the cave.
Other aspects still need to take time to explore.
"Brother-in-law, look, that male pigeon actually dares to hit the female pigeon." Chen Ling added water to the chicken coop, and Wang Zhenzhen pointed to him in the direction of the pigeon nest.
At this time, the rain gradually eased, and the female pigeon came out of the nest to breathe fresh air, but the male pigeon, which still looked thin, cooed, flapped its wings, stopped the female pigeon, and then stopped the female pigeon. It rushed into the nest.
It is the wild pigeon whose head was pecked bald before, and forms a pair with the female pigeon at home.
Wang Zhenzhen also knew that this male pigeon had always been bullied, and now he seemed to be teaching the female pigeon a lesson, which was quite strange.
"Don't worry about them. It's not a fight. It's about to lay eggs and they are catching them." Chen Ling glanced at them and ignored them.
Catching eggs is a behavior that male pigeons frequently do within three or four days after the pigeons have mated.
It means that the male pigeon drives the female pigeon into the nest, which means driving the daughter-in-law into the nest to lay eggs.
Otherwise it would be too dangerous for pigeon eggs to be laid outside the nest.
After the domestication of wild pigeons is completed, as the environment becomes comfortable, they will lay eggs more frequently.
Except for winter, as long as the nutrition can keep up, you can mate and lay eggs every month. Male and female pigeons are mated once, and they can lay eggs in half a month. It takes another half month to hatch the eggs, which is about A clutch of pigeons can be born in one and a half months.
Now this pair of pigeons is not the only one at home, the other two pairs have also finished mating. I don’t know whether it was successful or not. Anyway, the male pigeons have been chasing eggs these days, and they keep picking up thatch and twigs in their nests. Chen Ling had noticed it a long time ago.
“Let’s go, Zhenzhen, take the guy and touch the snails.”
“Come on, come on.”
Chen Ling took the fish basket, put on a bamboo hat, the little girl put on a straw hat, and the two of them rushed to Laohewan.
The water in Laohewan has not completely risen yet. The river is shallow, and the thin raindrops are splashing on the water. The rain is getting smaller and smaller, and it is getting slower and slower. These ripples It's not dense either, but the tinkling sound is very pleasant.
The two of them rolled up their trouser legs, reached into the river, and began to touch snails and pick up river mussels.
After a while, the little children who were still running back and forth in the wheat field came over happily, went down to the river, and groped back and forth. Later, even the adults who were wandering in the field came.
Chen Ling and the others arrived early and quickly caught two full fish baskets, ready to go back. Other adults and children were still digging in the mud at the bottom of the river.
"Uncle Fugui, little aunt, look, how big is my clam? It's almost as big as the top of a bowl."
The pig boy held up a big river clam and handed it to Chen Ling, "Uncle Fugui, here it is for you. . ”
“It’s so big, uncle, you don’t want it. You can go back and raise it as your baby. When it’s as big as a basin, I can do laundry and cooking for you and be your wife.”
“Yes. Really, Uncle Fugui? "
"I didn't fool you. If you don't believe me, go back and ask your mother."
Chen Ling smiled and led Wang Zhenzhen home.
Zhuwa and Liu Nier are quite good at their age, at least they are sensible.
Kosen from Yuqiang’s family, that guy is called lawless only when he is five or six years old.
They were the ones who frightened the donkey two days ago. However, Xiao Sen received a few beatings last year and has been much more honest this year. He did not follow him, otherwise he would be chained up by Chen Yuqiang and locked up in the woodshed. Inside.
No longer caring about what those little kids were doing, Chen Ling took Wang Zhenzhen home, washed the snails and mussels repeatedly, and poured them into white wine and salt.
After repeating this several times, it will be clean.
The shells and gills of river mussels are removed, and the tails of snails are cut off.
Then, heat the oil in a pot, first cook the mussels, cut the mussel meat into shreds, fry it once, then stir-fry it with onions, ginger, garlic and chili peppers. If you want this thing to be delicious, you need to add more chili peppers. There should also be more oil and salt.
This was not a challenge for Chen Ling. It didn’t take much effort, and the fragrant stir-fried river mussels came out of the pot.
Then there is the snail, which is a little more difficult to handle than the mussels, but the steps for stir-frying the mussels are basically the same, and a pot full of them was quickly cooked.
When lunchtime arrived, the aroma filled the entire courtyard.
This thing is very cold and Wang Susu cannot eat too much. He only tasted a small piece and felt that the mussel meat is very smooth, tender, fat, chewy and chewy. The inside is spicy and refreshing, and goes well with rice.
As for the snails, she didn’t eat them. She just watched her sister pick them with bamboo sticks and put them into her mouth. She ate two bowls of rice, which must be unpalatable.
Not to mention Wang Zhenzhen, Chen Ling was sweating profusely. After finishing the rice in the bowl, he exhaled several times: "Ah, it's so exciting. It would be better if I had two more bottles of beer." It’s a pity that Cui Zizi hasn’t had time to purchase it this year.”
The beer and draft beer in Cui Zizi’s club are all purchased from the brewery in Huangni Town. Huangni Town is not far away, and the beer is also available. Relatively cheap and very popular with their locals.
"Aren't you going to Huangni Town to meet Han Chuang for the temple fair next month? If you want to drink, just buy some on the way."
Wang Susu said.
Chen Ling thought about it and figured out what to buy when he went to Huangni Town to attend the temple fair next month.
——
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(End of this chapter)