Chapter 10: Pounding Rice
There were five tables set up at the groom's house, and the aunts who helped in the kitchen began to serve the dishes, and the people who were watching the fun went back to their homes.
On the way home, Chu Dan deliberately painted her lips with red peanut shells and showed off to her: "Sister, do you think my lips look like I have lipstick on?"
She was not really naive, but she was worried that her second sister would be reminded of her previous miserable and short-lived marriage.
I remember when my second sister invited a son-in-law to live with us, she also invited five tables.
My second brother-in-law has a good temper, is obedient and good-looking.
Now my second sister is saddened by the scene and she must be sad when she thinks of her ex-brother-in-law.
Unfortunately, Chu Hong had almost forgotten about Zhong Guobing. She just looked at this little sister who seemed to never grow up with disdain: "How old are you? Do you think you are the same age as Xiao Yu'er?"
Chu Dan was also shameless, and he said, "Sister, didn't you say you were going to town? When are we going?"
Most people don’t work now.
All the ditches were completed and the work in the fields was almost done. The women were busy with their own private plots and preparing winter clothes.
It is not necessary to make a new cotton-padded jacket, but just turn the cotton over and dry it in the sun, and replace the lining and outer cloth of the old jacket that will be torn easily with new ones, so that you can wear new clothes during the New Year.
According to regulations, each family is to have three mu of private land, but in the countryside where they are, there are few people and a vast expanse of land, so there must be more than three mu of land in front of and behind the houses.
For example, Chu Hong and her family lived at the back of the village. There were rocks all at the foot of the mountain, but they carried a few loads of mud and piled it on the rocks, and planted winter melon, pumpkin, loofah and sweet potato seedlings.
If you really think about it, that's about five or six mu of land.
Not to mention that the higher-ups wouldn't come because their place was too remote. Even if they did come, the Song family could say that they didn't know who dropped the seeds there and they just grew them like that.
It perfectly illustrates what it means that every policy has its own countermeasure.
However, Party Secretary Song also warned everyone in advance that if they came to inspect, everyone would clean up the mess consciously.
On the contrary, the villages near towns are strictly controlled and no one dares to grow them secretly.
It is said that he had been caught before and was severely fined, and was given a one-day tour of the street.
Anyway, for this reason, the villagers are grateful to Secretary Song, who is a diligent person and does not even let go of the mountains.
It doesn’t matter if it’s all stone, just pick up some mud and plant it.
However, many of them have been destroyed by rats and insects. In addition, the current seeds are not of good quality, or the seeds saved by oneself, so many crops have no harvest.
Only vegetables like pumpkin, sweet potato and winter melon might have some harvest.
For example, Chu Hong's family harvested more than a hundred pumpkins, more than ten winter melons, and more than a hundred kilograms of sweet potatoes this year.
Chu Hong made some pumpkin pancakes, and everyone in the family said they were delicious.
She casually said that she had too many pumpkins at home and could go to town to sell pumpkin pie.
However, my grandparents felt that it was not easy to sell.
Even though pumpkin is free, glutinous rice flour and white sugar are both precious.
If it’s too cheap, it’s not cost-effective; if it’s too expensive, no one will buy it, and you will have to worry.
But Chu Hong knew that the old man was just reluctant to spend money. He always felt that it was too expensive outside, so it would be better for him to do it at home.
She felt that people who had jobs might not have the patience, but there would definitely be people who were willing to buy to satisfy their cravings.
Wu Xiu privately told her daughter that if she saw it, she would still buy two as long as they were not too expensive.
Chu Dan was very excited after hearing this, and pestered Secretary Song to bring back five kilograms of glutinous rice flour and one kilogram of sugar, preparing to go to the town to try selling them.
Anyway, they have bicycles, so it's convenient to go back and forth.
Chu Hong regretted that what she said at that time was heard by her.
Because she was worried about letting her go to town alone, and it was too tiring to ride a bike by herself, so the two sisters had to go together.
It’s so tiring just thinking about it. I still have 462 yuan in savings. It’s not like I have no money to spend. I have no motivation to earn hard-earned money.
Now I hear my sister urging me more than ten times a day, and I roll my eyes: "I won't listen, I won't listen, you idiot."
Chu Dan continued to mutter: "Teach me how to make it, and I'll take you to town to sell it on my bike. Sister, let's give it a try, okay? I beg you, okay?"
She was still holding Chu Hong's arm and shaking it constantly.
Chu Hong was afraid that her bones would be shaken apart by her, and she really didn't want to listen to her nagging anymore, so she could only compromise: "Okay, I'll go the day after tomorrow after I'm done with my work."
I prayed to God in my heart that I couldn't sell any of them, so as to put an end to her idea of making money and prevent her from thinking about it in the future.
Chu Dan cheered: "Ah, that's great, you promised me, you can't change your mind."
When the two sisters returned home, Chu Dan looked at her expectantly: "Can we have rice for lunch?"
Chu Hong had no objection, because Secretary Song and Grandpa took advantage of the dark and windy night last night to quietly buy nearly a thousand kilograms of rice from more than ten households in Gaogongfen Village at a high price.
Add to that the more than 400 kilograms of rice that our family received, and it should be enough for next year's food.
Unfortunately, Grandma Song, who had gone to watch the fun, had returned early and was already cooking sweet potatoes. When she saw them, she said, "Your grandfather and father are going to the feast, so we should just have a simple lunch."
The two sisters agreed with a bitter face: "Okay."
It’s almost cooked, and we did it without their permission, without giving them any chance to refuse.
Grandma Song added lovingly, "We'll have white rice tonight."
Both sisters smiled.
Grandma Song's next words made them despair: "In the afternoon, our whole family will go to pound rice."
There are no machines for pounding rice now, it is all done manually.
The rice must first be shaken from the windmill, and then ground and squeezed with a wooden husk to separate the rice from the husk.
This is not the end yet. This is just brown rice. The brown rice needs to be poured into a stone mortar and pounded and rubbed repeatedly with a stone hammer before it can be considered rice.
Not to mention being tiring, it is also tedious and time-consuming.
Alas, even eating some rice is not easy.
It is said that rice pounded in winter is less likely to be infested with insects. This time, the family prepared to pound more than 400 kilograms of rice. The family of six was busy until after six in the evening before they returned home carrying the rice and bran.
We don’t raise pigs at home, but we can take the bran to the pigpen, and two kilograms of it is counted as one work point.
You can also burn it into ashes at home, which is a good fertilizer.
Although the work is hard, the moment I eat the delicious rice, my stomach is soothed and I feel that life is worth it.
The next day, work points were calculated and coarse grains were distributed. Chu Hong, the accountant and warehouse manager, was the main force, as was Secretary Song, the team leader and the scorekeeper.
After they finished their work, Chu Hong's family had more than 500 kilograms of coarse grains.
It sounds like a lot, but sweet potatoes and corn are heavy, so there’s actually not much.
The captain also discussed with everyone: "I want to take advantage of the good weather these days and let everyone get a batch of mud bricks so that we can expand the warehouse next year."
This requires moving soil and mud, which is also strenuous work, and requires full work points.
Secretary Song nodded and said, "The mud bricks used by the educated youth were all borrowed from Uncle Gen and his family, so they must be returned."
This will keep me busy for another ten days or half a month.
However, this is also a job for middle-aged men, so Chu Hong doesn't need to watch over it in the warehouse. She can just ask Secretary Song to help record the work points.
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