Chapter 22 Chapter 22 Gaga Killing (Second Update)...
The purpose of the visit was first to obtain the private plot.
Ye Yu had no chance to farm in her whole life, and she had no idea about farming. She also had no wood-related abilities, so she couldn't expect a good harvest whether she planted or not. Of course, she had to consult someone.
"Our village has good terrain. Even during the national drought in those years, the three ditches did not dry up completely. There is also a constant supply of groundwater in the mountains, which saves us the effort of repairing dams every year. The land has sufficient water and the air humidity is suitable, so many crops can be planted and grow better than in other communes."
Sister Guihua's knowledge was unlike that of an ordinary villager. After careful questioning, I learned that she had attended junior high school in the town. Junior high school was considered a high level diploma in the countryside at that time.
"I'm not as good as you educated youth. You're all high school students." Sister Guihua smiled shyly.
This hit Ye Yu's pain point.
I have lived for several decades in two lifetimes, but I have never graduated from college and am still a high school student.
Ye Yu changed the subject: "Is there a primary school in the village? Erniu and the others don't seem to go to school?"
"Indeed, there isn't one," Sister Guihua smiled bitterly and shook her head. "If the kids in Wangjiagou want to go to primary school, they either have to walk to the town, or go to the Red Flag Brigade 20 miles away. They also accept people from other teams, but there are fewer and fewer kids in the team, and the fees are a bit... expensive. It costs several yuan per semester, and you need dozens of kilograms of food. The current brigade leader asked if we should build one this year, but the vote didn't pass."
In the past, people knew that they could go to school, take the high school entrance exam, and then become a worker that everyone envied. But in their village, no one became a worker by studying.
In addition, now that the college entrance examination has been cancelled, all the city students are moving to the countryside. They really don’t know what’s the point of sending their children to school, and it’s just a waste of money and food.
Sister Guihua may not have this idea, but raising four children is difficult enough just to provide for their food, and she cannot afford to send them to school.
Ye Yu nodded:
"It seems the captain has just taken office?"
"You've heard about it," Sister Guihua nodded and said, "Our former village chief has always been Wang Laosan's family on the northern hillside. His grandfather was the village chief before him, and his father was the previous village chief. Logically, Wang Laosan should have been the current village chief, but didn't the ancestral hall in the village be destroyed during the "Four Olds" movement? They no longer followed the clan system of the past, and when the captain retired, he became the new captain, and Wang Laoer retired."
After a pause, he added: "Not all the villagers are convinced by the captain, especially Wang Laosan and his family. The village militia commander Wang Erdan is Wang Laosan's cousin and also a member of Wang Laosan's family. The former captain still has connections in Pingquan Commune. These people keep an eye on the captain for no reason."
Ah, no wonder the team leader in the town didn’t have many connections yesterday, and the educated youth didn’t see the militia company commander when they arrived in the village. It turns out that where there are people, there are rivers and lakes.
Back to the topic.
Sister Guihua knows everything about farming and even borrowed the road to demonstrate on the spot. She explained in detail: "Generally, everyone grows sweet potatoes and potatoes in their own plots. Sweet potatoes can be planted twice a year, once in March or April in the spring. After harvesting in June, autumn potatoes are planted again and harvested again before frost. However, planting too many sweet potatoes will cause great damage to the soil. It is best to plant once and rest once. There is also a different method of planting. Before planting, cut the sweet potatoes into pieces and let the stems sprout and take root. Then insert them obliquely into the soil and compact the soil. Potatoes are also selected, cut into pieces, and germinated..."
It is definitely too late to plant sweet potatoes now, and potato planting is almost finished, so it is definitely too late to grow seedlings. I can only ask the villagers if we can exchange some.
There was some left at Guihua's house, but it was very little, enough to plant at most one-third of the land at the educated youth site.
Ye Yu decisively bought them all.
She also wanted to grow some soybeans, not only for eating tofu and other bean foods, but also for extracting oil. In the era of oil ticket shortage, she could only consider growing it herself. Growing soybeans can also fertilize the land. Their private plots are not special and they really need to be improved.
If we fertilize the land this year, we can plant sweet potatoes and soybeans next year, which is a perfect combination.
As for vegetables, the most common cabbage and leek in the north are also planted in their village around September. In late October, some cold-resistant vegetables such as broccoli, winter radish, and winter spinach can also be planted, but not all of them can survive. If they survive, they can probably be harvested in early spring.
Ye Yu also asked about the growing methods of several seasonings.
Chili peppers and ginger are mostly planted in spring, with chili peppers planted earlier than ginger. Onions and garlic can be planted in spring and summer, and do not take up land. As for some uncommon condiments, they are not planted in the village, so we don’t know how to plant them and we don’t have the seeds.
Ye Yu asked Sister Guihua to exchange some vegetable seeds that can be planted in winter, including some vegetables.
Of course she used money, after all she didn't have much that she could or was willing to exchange.
Speculation is indeed not allowed in this era.
But since people are allowed to barter, privately exchanging money for some things is common even in the city. As long as the amount is not large and the transactions are regular at fixed times, it is difficult to be caught in such cases, and even if you are caught, it is easy to fool people.
This is even more true in the countryside.
Ye Yu had no idea about the price of seeds. In addition to the potato seeds and soybean seeds just now, he pretended to take out two one-yuan bills from his pocket, but actually took out three?
"You don't need so much. These are not worth much." Sister Guihua pushed all the money back.
"Sister Guihua, just accept it."
Money can buy food, but that is not necessarily the case in this era. Ye Yu is not as obsessed with money as she is with food, and she pushes it away again. Her strength is no match for Sister Guihua.
Besides, I came to Sister Guihua’s house not only because of farming issues, but also for other reasons.
Speaking of straw sandals, Ye Yu doesn’t know how to weave them. Sister Guihua calls this craft “making straw sandals”.
Her craftsmanship is very delicate. Each straw sandal has three pairs of ears and the ropes are tied with ramie. The straw sandals are not only soft and non-slip, but also strong and durable.
Ye Yu changed into a new pair of shoes immediately. Straw sandals can be worn in spring, summer, autumn and winter except in the snowy winter. The new pair of ears on the sandals are convenient for wearing. In autumn, he can simply wrap his feet with corn husks to go out in the fields. In winter, if he is afraid of the cold, he can add a pair of old socks. He will not feel cold even if he does a lot of work, and his soles will sometimes sweat.
The only pair she changed was because she was growing taller, so she ordered a third pair in a larger size.
A pair of straw sandals like this could only be sold for five cents in the past when the market was unrestricted. Now, I can't even find a way to sell them to make some extra money. Labor is really worthless nowadays.
In addition to straw sandals, straw ropes, straw mats, straw baskets, brooms and other straw products are also indispensable. Straw mats should be ordered in summer to avoid mold.
There are not as many bamboos planted in the mountains of the north as in the south, but there are also some cold-resistant bamboos such as moso bamboo and green bamboo.
Bamboo is a good thing just like thatch. Bamboo baskets, bamboo baskets, chicken baskets, bamboo sieves, straw raincoats, and bamboo hats are all good things. Ye Yu ordered two or three of them.
Except for a semi-new large backpack and a new hat, everything else will take some time.
Sister Guihua was so grateful for the extra income that appeared on her face that she smiled.
"On the contrary, I should be thanking you, sister-in-law."
In addition, Ye Yu also needed some wooden products. Sister Guihua didn't know how to do carpentry work, but she knew an old carpenter in the village.
It is also not far from Sister Guihua’s house, and it only takes about ten minutes to walk downhill to get there.
The old carpenter is actually not that old, not even fifty years old. He just looks much older than his actual age because he suffered a lot when he was young. His surname is not Wang but Zhang, and the villagers also call him Carpenter Zhang, which has a bit of respect in it.
For the lower-class working people, people with skills are always popular in any era.
The same is true for carpenters.
Even though he can't sell his craft openly now, Carpenter Zhang relies on his skills to exchange some things with the team from time to time, and occasionally repairs wooden farm tools, such as wooden plows, looms, ox-hooks, hoes, and harrows, and he can still make a good living.
It was because of his carpentry skills that he, a person from another family, was able to marry and start a family in Wangjiagou.
When Sister Guihua brought Ye Yu to Zhang's house, Carpenter Zhang, who usually stayed in the fourth group for the elderly, the weak and the disabled, had already returned from work.
Carpenter Zhang was a very straightforward person. He didn't exchange pleasantries with anyone. He would just ask about the purpose of the visit and then directly ask for his requirements.
Thanks to Ye Yu, he had thought about it long ago. He needed wardrobes and boxes, as well as tables and stools, a bathtub, some more basins, cupboards and tubs, and also shelves in the room. The luggage couldn't be left on the floor all the time.
"What kind of shelf?" asked Carpenter Zhang.
Ye Yu gave a brief description. Her request was not difficult and the style was also simple. She just needed a few more layers to hold things. Carpenter Zhang understood it immediately.
Seeing that Ye Yu was only focused on studying and seemed to have no shortage of money, Sister Guihua and Carpenter Zhang even supplemented him with some things that Ye Yu had not thought of.
Such things as steamers, bellows, pot lids, mallets, etc., add up to a lot of small pieces.
After the negotiation, Ye Yu paid a deposit of 5 yuan, which was not much less than the full amount.
Money in this era is more valuable than she imagined, especially in rural areas where there is a lack of economic sources other than working.
Carpenter Zhang once again demonstrated his craftsmanship to Ye Yu. Most of the wood used was wild camphor or fir, and there was also mahogany. Especially for the wardrobes and boxes, the style was simple and elegant, but with some exquisite details.
Ye Yu even thought that ten years later he could put them into the space and take them away together, provided that the space was big enough by then.
She was generous in praising the old carpenter's craftsmanship.
The old carpenter said modestly, "I can't compare with the carpenters in your city, but I can only make a living", but there seemed to be more smiles in the corners of his eyes. He patted his chest and assured that he would do the product well. He was completely different from the old man who seemed a little difficult to mess with when he just met.
In addition to carpentry, Ye Yu actually also needs some iron products for daily life or farming.
But there are really no blacksmiths in the village, and few brigades can afford blacksmiths. Things can only be bought from the supply and marketing cooperatives in the town. Even if there were any, they were returned to the commune during the steel smelting in the 1960s. Now, you basically need an industrial ticket to buy iron products.
After leaving Carpenter Zhang's house, Ye Yu and Sister Guihua went to chop firewood, and the big girl followed them. Erzhuang stayed at home looking after the little girl who was still walking unsteadily.
Sister Guihua had two hatchets at home, so she borrowed one from Ye Yu, thinking that she wouldn't know how to use it. But she used it better than her. She could only sigh that having strength really makes a difference. She wished that women could have the same strength as men.
Ye Yu had no idea what she was thinking. She was naturally good at chopping wood because she was really strong. Even without a hatchet, she could easily "cut down" a tree with her supernatural powers.
But there is another reason besides strength - the skillful use of weapons.
Ye Yu had lived in the apocalypse for so long, and had used quite a lot of both cold weapons and hot weapons. There were still some left in the shrunken space after traveling through time, but he was afraid that he would have no chance to use out the hot weapons.
She could kill with a fire axe, so a hatchet would be a perfect weapon for her.