Chapter 017: Hearing the Old Master
Before starting work, Wei Dai went to talk to Fang Baoguo about this matter.
So when Wen Jiajia was on her way to work, she heard that their team was planning to purchase a batch of fish from Hegou Township.
The team members were happy about this.
Nothing else, just because there is meat to eat.
Fish is also meat. The mixed fish tofu in the cafeteria yesterday was enough to surprise the team members, let alone the big pieces of fish.
The autumn harvest is really tiring.
The human body's ability to adapt is really strong.
Even though Wen Jiajia almost died of heatstroke yesterday, she felt refreshed breathing the fresh air in the fields.
She thought she could probably hold on a little longer.
Let's get started!
Wen Jiajia encouraged herself and prepared to start the operation.
Soon, the only sounds in the fields were the rustling of rice being harvested and the bang-bang of threshing.
Immersed in this environment, it is easy for people to forget themselves and just repeat the actions instinctively.
For a moment she didn't know what year it was. She felt that she was the same person at this moment as she was in her previous life when she was filming the rice harvest.
Same autumn, same action.
Wen Jiajia remembers it clearly. She filmed glutinous rice cakes. She started by filming the growth of rice, which took her half a year. In the end, this video brought her millions of views, making her a popular blogger in the same series.
When her head was dizzy and she was only supported by instinct, Fang Baoguo walked towards her.
With a look of realization and a hint of inquiry, he said to Wen Jiajia, "Jiajia, starting tomorrow you will be responsible for going to Hegou Township to catch fish every morning."
Wen Jiajia was stunned at first, but then she came to her senses and nodded, resting her thighs on them: "Okay."
Fang Baoguo didn't ask much about her relationship with Wei Dai.
What kind of relationship can single men and women have? Isn't it obvious?
Hey! Wen Jiajia was able to earn 6 work points yesterday, and he was still reluctant to let her go fishing. He should have let some people who earned 4 or 5 work points go.
Fang Baoguo left leisurely.
Wen Jiajia then looked at his back which was getting farther and farther away, chuckled twice, and grinned.
All the fatigue in my body disappeared in an instant, and I pounded my arms and felt strong enough to harvest rice again.
Speeding is not an easy thing to learn.
Wen Jiajia can't rely on Wei Dai for everything. He has already pointed out an easy path for her, so she also has to make some effort.
So after dinner in the evening, Wen Jiajia learned how to drive in the large open space at the entrance of the village.
There are two donkeys in the village. When there are supplies that need to be transported in the village, they usually rely on these two donkeys.
The person who came to teach her was Fang Qing'an, Fang Baoguo's eldest son and also a rickshaw driver in the village.
To avoid suspicion, he even brought his wife with him. In order to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes, Wen Jiajia studied very seriously.
"Its name is Daqiang, and its brother is Erqiang. Their grandmother is the first generation of donkeys in our village. They have been raised in our village since they were young. Don't be afraid of them." Fang Qing'an hugged the donkey's neck, letting Wen Jiajia go over and touch it, and also letting Daqiang get familiar with Wen Jiajia's scent.
Wen Jiajia was not afraid at all, she first stroked its body along its fur with her palm, then touched its forehead, and finally placed her palm in front of its nose.
The donkey's fur was not very soft, and it smelled bad if you smelled it up close. But it didn't matter, she would rather smell the bad smell than go to the fields to harvest rice.
"Sure." Fang Qing'an praised, "As long as you are not afraid, it's OK. In fact, the donkey cart is very easy to use. I will teach you a few commands later and you can command Daqiang."
Wen Jiajia smiled and said, "Then what's next is to harness the car?"
To learn how to drive a donkey cart, you must first learn how to harness it. Wen Jiajia had tried harnessing an ox cart before, so she was not completely clueless.
"This is a saddle." Wen Jiajia pointed to a wooden product and said, and without waiting for Fang Duoan's instructions, she put the saddle on the donkey's back very skillfully.
Fang Qingan: "Smart! Your sister-in-law can't harness a bicycle by herself yet. You should be able to do it if you learn more."
Wen Jiajia smiled and said, "Sister-in-law's skill lies in needlework. No one in our village can compare with sister-in-law in needlework."
She was not talking nonsense. Fang Qing'an's wife Lin Ying had exceptionally beautiful needlework skills. Not only could she sew clothes as if they were made on a sewing machine, she could also embroider flowers, birds and other things.
The original owner's elder sister was her friend. When her elder sister got married, she gave her a pair of red pillowcases. Wen Jiajia saw them once and was shocked. After decades, it was easy to sell this pair of pillowcases for tens of thousands.
Wen Jiajia guessed that Lin Ying's family must have had some wealth in the past, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to do such a good job.
In addition to the saddle, Wen Jiajia also knew where the wide belt on the ground should be placed.
Where? On the donkey's butt.
She was a little confused about the rest and had to rely on Fang Qingan to teach her.
"This is an iron comb for smoothing donkeys' fur. Daqiang got angry on the road and refused to leave. Don't force him to leave. He has a bad temper and needs smoothing his fur to be coaxed."
"And this, this is the car gate."
"This is a bag, and that is a whip... Don't be reluctant to whip it. Erqiang is okay, Daqiang needs both coaxing and whipping, but it is strong and thick-skinned, so it is not easy to be beaten. It is much more useful than its brother."
Fang Qingan introduced the tools one by one, Wen Jiajia memorized them all, and then started to practice.
It is difficult to implement in practice, and the biggest challenge is how to fix the donkey in place.
"Hello!"
Wen Jiajia discovered that Fang Qingan gave commands to the donkey during the practical operation.
"I understand a little bit now," Wen Jiajia's eyes lit up, "Brother Qing'an, when you shout '籲' it won't move."
Fang Qingan fixed the saddle on the donkey's back and said, "That's right! It has been trained since it was young. You can't just call it softly, as if it hasn't eaten. It won't listen if you call it that way. It's arrogant! You have to call it hard before it will listen."
Wen Jiajia nodded and memorized it again.
She thought that he couldn't just remember it, so she cleared her throat and shouted "Call" loudly, and Daqiang's restless legs finally stood still again.
Maybe Daqiang was not familiar with her voice, and soon he became restless again.
Wen Jiajia shouted again. If it moved again, she shouted again.
In the end, when Wen Jiajia's throat was about to cough, Daqiang finally became familiar with her voice and the commands she gave.
Lin Ying watched and laughed from the side, thinking that Wen Jiajia was a very sensible girl and would be able to go home soon.
"If you want it to go, just yell 'drive'!"
"Drive!" Daqiang didn't respond when hearing Jiajia's shout.
Wen Jiajia thought about it, then walked up to it, grabbed the reins and walked forward, shouting again: "Drive!"
Only then did Daqiang follow her.
Finally, Fang Qing'an taught her the instructions for turning. The instructions were different depending on which direction you turn, but fortunately they were not complicated, and Wen Jiajia was able to use them proficiently very quickly.
Now she starts to really practice.
He unfastened the frame and took off all the items on Daqiang, then led Daqiang to a far place, turned around and led him back.
"Be good!" Daqiang did not go crazy, so Wen Jiajia touched him gently and gave him a piece of carrot.
When we get to the designated location, we need to pull Daqiang and harness the car.
Wen Jiajia held the reins with one hand and picked up things from the ground with the other hand and put them on Daqiang one by one.
The saddle is a bit heavy, but other than that it's fine.
It took three minutes for Wen Jiajia to finally learn the skill of harnessing a car, from being flustered to being calm.
Finally, he jumped onto the car, sat in front of the board, held the reins, and after a "go" Daqiang moved forward.
If you shout "籲", it will stop, and if you shout "駕", it will go. It can also tell whether it is turning inward or outward, or going left or right.
Wen Jiajia was immediately very proud. Look how smart she is! She can learn it in no time!
Tsk tsk, why do you need Wei Dai to accompany you here?
The next day, early morning.
After the beginning of autumn, you can feel a little cool every morning. The mountain fog is thick and often does not disperse until the sun rises.
With a creak, the backyard door opened. Wen Jiajia stretched her back and went to pick vegetables.
I was busy practicing driving yesterday and didn't go picking vegetables.
The cabbages in the field grew taller and taller. They were no longer as tender as when we first ate them, but they became much more delicious.
After finishing this crop of vegetables, she will have to free up one or two plots of land to grow vegetables for the winter.
The local winters are generally not too cold, and even if it snows, it is rarely heavy enough to affect the vegetables in the vegetable garden.
Wen Jiajia planned to plant garlic sprouts, which she needed to stir-fry various pickled vegetables in winter. She also planned to plant winter vegetables, but winter vegetables would taste better if they were soaked in plant ash, and she couldn't control the amount, so she had to ask others.
The rest of the cabbage and radish were all hers to grow. She had plenty of seeds for these vegetables at home, so she didn't have to go to the commune to buy them.
I had sweet potato noodles this morning.
Fuyang Brigade grows a lot of sweet potatoes, and the local people like to make sweet potato noodles. There is even a small sweet potato noodle processing workshop in the village.
Wen Jiajia finally understood that Wen Chun and Wen Xuan liked noodles but could not live without rice. If they were allowed to eat two more meals, they would ask if there was no rice at home.
However, Wen Jiajia prefers noodles to pasta. She was so surprised when she found sweet potato noodles at home.
The key is that the sweet potato noodles at this time have no moldy or strange taste, and are smooth and soft, with the right hardness. Even if you cook the noodles in clear soup, the soup base is still clear and has no strange smell.
Wen Jiajia left the vegetable garden with two handfuls of washed cabbage, and started cooking noodles after returning to the kitchen.
Soak the sweet potato flour in boiling water until it is soft before cooking.
Wen Jiajia did not use a large pot, but a small pot she made. She fried eggs in the small pot, and after the egg liquid solidified and slightly charred, she poured the boiled water into it.
With a "sizzle" sound, the hot water turned from clear to thick white, and the egg pieces rolled in the water.
Wen Jiajia put the sweet potato flour and cabbage in, added salt, and after cooking them until they were soft, she could take them out and eat them.
Take a bite, oops! It's missing MSG.
I don’t know when I can eat MSG.
Thinking of this, Wen Jiajia suddenly hesitated. Could she try to synthesize MSG?
The main ingredient of MSG is sodium glutamate. I don't know whether it can be successfully synthesized by using foods such as wheat and corn.
She kept the sudden thought in mind, but then she changed her mind and realized that she would be able to eat it in a few years, so she just had to endure it for a few years, so why bother with this?
I can follow this line of thought and think about whether I can synthesize other things.
"It's time to eat!"
After Wen Jiajia divided the sweet potato and egg powder, she shouted into the room and soon heard the noises of the two girls.
"Auntie has prepared delicious food for lunch today. I will bring you back for dinner then." Wen Jiajia said to the two girls.
The two children were struggling with the chopsticks as they were not yet able to use them to eat the slippery sweet potato noodles.
When I heard Jia Jia's words, my eyes lit up.
"Really?"
“It couldn’t be more true!”
To celebrate having half a day off from harvesting rice, she decided to cook a big meal.
Of course, there is also the reason that if you don't eat the meat, it will go bad.
After all, the weather is still hot, and even if you use a lot of salt to marinate the meat, it is on the verge of going bad.
Wen Jiajia felt helpless when she thought of this. She would rather use this synthesis system to exchange for a space that can maintain its quality. This is the most practical cheat code, right?
The gong sounded, but this time Wen Jiajia no longer hurried to the field to harvest rice. She came to the cowshed, pulled Daqiang out, put the cart on, and with a "boom", she drove the donkey towards Hegou Township.
Speaking of this cowshed, it was quite different from what she had imagined. It was a genuine cowshed, with only cows and donkeys in it, and no human slaves.
So where are the people who were sent down?
On a farm not too far away.
So even if Wen Jiajia wanted to rub against someone's thigh, she couldn't. The village was guarded by soldiers with guns, and it was difficult to get in.
The donkey cart was moving slowly along the country road, and her driving skills were becoming more and more skilled.
Soon after leaving the village, they saw a bicycle coming towards them after turning several corners. Wen Jiajia was instantly excited and raised her hands and waved them wildly: "Wei Dai!"
Wen Jiajia's voice was very penetrating. Wei Dai heard it and was extremely surprised. He immediately rushed to her side and said, "Jiajia, why did you drive here by yourself? I wanted to pick you up."
"I know how to catch up!" Wen Jiajia said proudly, "I just learned it yesterday evening. This donkey is called Daqiang and he listens to me."
As she said this, she called out to Wei Dai to get out of the way quickly, as she wanted to show off her ability to overtake other cars.
Daqiang was indeed Daqiang, with a big mouth and a long face. His limbs were straight, his joints were strong, his muscles were well developed, and he was full of energy. He was very obedient under Wen Jiajia's command and remembered the instructions very well. Even the carrots that Wen Jiajia brought with her were not used.
Wei Dai couldn't help but smile.
After spending a long time with her, I discovered that Wen Jiajia is a very interesting person.
Wei Dai slowed down and followed behind her.
Passing by bamboo forests, passing by woods, passing by artificially dug reservoirs, passing by vast fields.
Many people saw the two of them on the way. The speed of the donkey and the bicycle was almost the same, which seemed strange no matter how you looked at it.
The sun is rising.
It rises from the eastern mountain, bringing a fiery red color, but I don't feel much heat.
This is also the most comfortable time of the day. The sky is bright, the wind is cool, and the sunlight on your body is gentle.
By the time the sun was shining brightly and people were sweating, Wen Jiajia and Wei Dai had already arrived at Hegou Township.
Hegou Township must have received a lot of orders from the canteen of the brigade. Baskets of fish were being pulled onto trucks from the fish farm on the riverside. The bustling scene was surprisingly lively with the coming and going of cars.
Wei Dai helped to pull the fish from the Fuyang Brigade to be weighed, and then moved them to Wen Jiajia's donkey cart.
His behavior inevitably makes people feel that he is too enthusiastic.
A friend beside him touched his shoulder and smiled strangely: "I was wondering why you don't even have any relatives. You must have someone in your heart. But which commune is this from? Our commune?"
Since Wen Jiajia didn't say anything, Wei Dai didn't dare to formally admit it: "Don't talk nonsense, move your fish."
Besides, how come there is only one person who doesn’t look like him?
He secretly met one in private.
The Fuyang Brigade had three baskets of fish. After they loaded them all onto the car, Wen Jiajia pulled the reins, and with a "go" sound, they drove away leisurely.
Soon after she left, Wei Dai also found an excuse to leave, and then rode his bicycle to catch up. This was Wen Jiajia's first day to catch up, and he was worried that there would be an accident, so he had to send her to Fuyang Brigade before he could feel at ease.
After sending the children off, he went home. His parents were old, and he had to help them with the autumn harvest.
The three baskets of fish were not exclusive to Fuyang Village; they also had to be shared among several production teams under the Fuyang Brigade.
So when Wen Jiajia drove the donkey cart back to the village, she was still busy. She hurriedly moved the fish to the canteen, and then hurriedly drove the cart to deliver the fish to several small production teams.
Coming and going, running around all morning.
Wen Jiajia didn't know whether Daqiang was tired or not, but she was very tired herself.
Especially the butt, it almost broke into four pieces.
She was always very efficient and quick in her work, running here and there, and it was only half past ten when she finished delivering the goods.
"I'm so tired!"
Wen Jiajia's face flushed, and she stood at the door of her house, panting. She wiped her forehead, sweat dripping down her cheeks, and ran to the vegetable garden to scoop up a handful of water to wash her face, which washed away much of the heat.
But no matter how tiring it is, it is much better than harvesting rice.
Wen Jiajia cut the salted meat into thin slices and fried it with chili peppers and carrots. She also killed a pheasant that had been poached for two days and simmered it in a clay pot.
As for the fish...let's eat it tomorrow.
There is fish in the cafeteria today. Even though she has cooked at home, she still has to bring back the food for the cafeteria.
It was almost noon when Wen Chun and Wen Xuan were picked up by her.
The two girls left the nursery with their heads held high and proud steps.
Although my aunt told us not to tell anyone about the food at home, otherwise it would be easily stolen.
But they were still very proud because no one picked up the other children at noon, but they were the only ones who did.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan really like unique and special things.
In the afternoon, Wen Jiajia still had to go to work.
But she didn't go to harvest the rice. Instead, she shuttled between the fields and the threshing grounds, transporting the rice in the threshing barrels to dry.
The threshing ground could not accommodate so much rice, so they spread out drying mats on other open spaces in the village.
This job is actually not that tiring, and you can take a short break when passing by the shade of trees along the way.
"Jia Jia, these mattresses were all woven by your eldest brother-in-law. Look, they are tight and dense, easy to roll up and easy to loosen." A villager said this to her when she was drying the sun in the valley.
Wen Jiajia took a closer look and found it was indeed good.
The mat in Shugu is called Shuodim, which is made of bamboo strips, similar to bamboo mats, but much larger than bamboo mats.
Spread it out when in use and roll it up when not in use.
At this moment, many children were lying on it, rolling around and playing, and they were only allowed to leave after being pulled back and spanked by adults.
The slightly damp rice was pushed open by a drying rake and spread evenly on the drying mat.
As time passed, the moisture on the rice gradually dissipated in the sunlight, and it felt a bit dry when touched by hand.
But that's not enough.
The rice must be exposed to the sun for at least three days, but according to the villagers, three days is too short. If you want to store it for a long time, five days is always necessary.
However, it is best not to exceed 7 days, as rice that is exposed to the sun for too long will not taste very good.
These past few days, Wen Jiajia spent her afternoons drying, turning and packing rice.
Time flies quickly when you are busy.
The rice has been harvested and the villagers can finally take a break.
In those days, we had to pay public rations, or patriotic rations. The rice, which accounted for the majority, was often handed in the day after it was harvested. The dried rice was packed in bags and sent to the commune, while the undried rice continued to be dried and distributed to the team members according to their work points.
It’s the most exciting moment of the year again - food distribution!
The grain distribution was comparable to the Chinese New Year, and even Wen Jiajia was excited. She woke up early that morning and cleaned out the granary at home.
The Wen family's granary was built in the attic because they were afraid of moisture. But obviously, this also attracted many rats to the attic.
Anyway, Wen Jiajia, who slept in Sister Wen's room, could hear the sound of rats crawling on the roof every night, which was very creepy.
"Chun'er, is there any other place to store food at home?" For example, a cellar or something.
Wen Jiajia, who was cleaning upstairs, shouted downstairs.
Wen Chun, who was sitting in the kitchen eating roasted sparrows, quickly replied, "Aunt, I don't know."
Having said that, she continued to eat her roasted sparrow.
The sparrows were caught by Wen Jiajia. Recently, besides searching and drying the crops, she has been catching sparrows.
Otherwise, why is this thing called one of the four pests? It really eats a lot of food.
In her spare time these days, she has been focusing on fighting with them, and she has caught quite a few with her traps. She gave some to the children who were teaching her how to set the traps, and took some home. This has made Wen Jiajia famous among the children in Fuyang Brigade. The naughty children think she is not pretentious, but a naughty adult who can play with children. When they meet her on the street, they will greet her warmly.
Wen Jiajia: …
Anyway, she never thought that she could unlock this new title.
The upstairs granary was pitch black, with almost no light to be seen. Wen Jiajia searched for a long time but couldn't find a torch.
On second thought, only a fool would light a torch in a granary.
So she had to tidy up the granary in the dark, take out all the sacks inside, and then take them to the river to wash and dry them.
The remaining old rice also has to make way for the new rice. Fortunately, there is only half a bag of old rice left, which weighs only about 30 pounds after removing the husk, so it won’t take long to eat it all.
After clearing out the debris inside, Wen Jiajia put on a homemade mask and started sweeping. The light was too dim, so she didn't clean carefully. She used a broom made of reed to sweep the three walls twice, and then wiped them roughly with a cloth.
Finally, sweep the dust off the floor and open the granary door wide to ventilate and dry the moisture.
People in the country rarely have time to relax, and their housework is much heavier than that of people living in the city.
Wen Jiajia spent almost the entire morning tidying up the granary, and spent another half an hour washing the sacks.
Finally, sweep the attic, the stairs, and the stairwell...
The sun sets and the moon rises, and the day passes by.
The next day.
Wen Jiajia used her cart and excitedly carried her clean sacks to the brigade headquarters to wait for rations.
As the inheritor of the Wen family's inheritance, she will be given a lot of food this time. The Wen family was originally capable, and during this period, Wen Jiajia could earn an average of 4 work points a day, which was considered a small fortune.
When Fang Baoguo called out "Jia Jia", everyone turned their eyes to Wen Jiajia, curious about how much she would get.
How much?
Eight large sacks of food were distributed, which was enough for the Wen family of three (one adult and two children) to eat from this time this year to the year after next.
In other words, it can last for at least two years.
If we save a little, maybe it will work in three years. After all, this is only the first wave of food, and there are still sweet potatoes, soybeans and other things to be distributed.
But Wen Jiajia has to eat white rice every day. In her opinion, it would be good if this amount of rice can last until the end of next year.
She was not very strong, so Fang Baoguo specially arranged for Chen Qiang who lived next door to help her push the food back home.
When seeing Chen Qiang, Wen Jiajia thought of his younger brother Chen Xiong.
He was a lazy guy who sneaked up the mountain to rest during work. He happened to meet Wen Jiajia who was catching a bus and Wei Dai who was riding a bicycle. He caught the ambiguous relationship between the two. From then on, this guy never showed his temper in front of Wen Jiajia again.
That's good too. Wen Jiajia doesn't want to have a bad relationship with Aunt Zhang next door who knows a lot about cooking.
When the grain is stored in the warehouse, the character "酉" is pasted on it, which means there is grain. It expresses the satisfaction with the bumper harvest this year and the hope for good weather next year.
Wen Jiajia thought about it and put mousetraps on both sides of the door of the granary. She would not be called Wen if she didn't kill the two dead mice that disturbed people's sleep!
After distributing the grain, it was time to go back to work.
Wen Jiajia doesn't just transport fish to Hegou Township. As an old hand, she can now also transport tofu to Chendun, and transport duck eggs from Fuyang Brigade to other places.
Fang Baoguo even gave her a task.
What? Go to the county seat to pick up the newly arrived educated youth.
"Damn it! It's harvest time now. Why send them down here? They can't do anything and they still need to be fed." Fang Baoguo's resentment at this moment was enough to feed ten evil sword immortals.
Wen Jiajia's eyes lit up.
Isn't this the opportunity for a date?
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