Chapter 82 Chapter 82 Pig Farming
Lin Chuntao asked this because she was actually a little afraid that the pigs would get sick. These days, the most feared thing is epidemics, which would bring disaster to both livestock and humans.
Upon hearing this, Lin Chunhe glanced at Lin Duoer, who then looked at Lin Chuntao and quickly avoided her gaze.
Looking at the expressions of these two sisters, is this a man-made inside story?
Lin Chuntao thought about the pig her grandmother raised when she was a child. After a year of raising it, it had become very fat and no longer liked to eat pig food. Every day, her grandmother would grab two handfuls of corn flour and sprinkle a layer of it in the basin. The pig would eat a few bites, and then sprinkle another layer of corn flour after it finished eating, as if coaxing it to eat. She had to nag it for a long time before each meal.
"What good food did you two feed it?"
Lin Chuntao's light words made the two sisters look up at her at the same time.
Lin Chunhe explained: "Sister, it wasn't me. I didn't do anything."
Lin Chuntao slowly shifted her gaze to Lin Duo'er. She bit her lip tightly, hesitating for a long moment before she said, "Sister, I didn't do anything. It was just that a few days ago, I was eating a potato while going to see it, and I didn't hold it firmly, so the potato fell in and was eaten by it."
Many families raise pigs, but they cut grass for the pigs or feed them with bran, or drive them out to eat like cattle and sheep. No one is willing to use grain, and the grain at home is not enough for them to eat themselves.
Lin Duoer didn't do it on purpose. The first time, it was accidental and fell in and was cooked and eaten. Moreover, after it finished eating, it tilted its head and looked at it, as if it wanted more. She didn't dare to feed it again at that time.
Later, when she went to cut grass for the pigs, she picked up some potatoes that had occasionally fallen on the ground while people were digging. Some were half-rotten or very small. She picked them all up. The pigs loved to eat them, regardless of whether they were raw or cooked.
There was nothing to pick up in the fields behind, so Lin Duoer took some potatoes from home to feed the pig. However, the potatoes at home were bought with money, and she felt bad feeding them. Moreover, the potatoes were getting less day by day, so she didn't dare to continue feeding them. She could only pretend that nothing had happened and only fed the pig grass. As a result, the pig became picky about food and would not eat after a few bites.
The pig has been picky about its food for a few days now. If it stops eating and becomes thinner due to hunger, won’t it have less meat?
Lin Chunhe then told Lin Chuntao, but she did not betray Lin Duoer. She only said that the pigs did not eat pig grass. It was up to Lin Duoer to lie or admit it.
Lin Duoer only said half of it, and she still didn't dare to tell the rest.
Lin Chuntao understood what was going on after hearing this. Seeing Lin Duoer's guilty look, she smiled and said, "You only ate one? Didn't you feed him the potatoes from the bag?"
Lin Duoer slid to her knees in panic after being guessed by Lin Chuntao.
"Sister, I was wrong."
"I was just picking up some rotten food outside to feed it. It refused to eat anything, so I gave it a few from home..."
Food is precious. Any naughty child who feeds pigs with food will be beaten.
Lin Chuntao also knew that grain was precious, but she had another idea. Grain was precious and meat was even more expensive. Feeding pigs with grain and selling the meat could buy more grain, so she was not opposed to feeding pigs with grain. She had wanted to do so for a long time. It was not because she was afraid that the secret would be leaked. The pigs were not that big yet. She would feed them grass first and hang them up, and wait for her corn to mature. Then she would make cornmeal to feed them. This was her original plan.
But now Lin Duoer accidentally brought it forward.
Lin Duoer bit her lip and looked at Lin Chuntao pitifully, waiting for her fate. Lin Chuntao glanced at her and said calmly, "We're eating, why are you making such a face?"
"If it eats it, it eats our potatoes, and we eat its meat later. There's no difference."
Lin Duoer's eyes rolled and she thought it made a lot of sense.
Lin Chunhe pursed her lips and looked at Lin Chunxing next to her.
Lin Chunxing didn't feel anything, mainly because the pig had already been eaten and she couldn't let it come back. Or as Lin Chuntao said, she had to wait to eat the meat.
"Sister, what should we do? Should we continue feeding?"
Lin Chuntao nodded and thought of Tian and the others. In the past, many potatoes at home would be damaged when they were dug up. Once the potatoes were broken, they were difficult to preserve. If they were not eaten quickly, they would easily go bad if left alone. In addition, when the potatoes were just dug up, everyone wanted to eat the ones without broken skins. But every time Tian cooked potatoes, she would always put some half-eaten potatoes in. When they were cooked, she would give them to Lin Chuntao and the others.
Even after they had eaten it, it started to rot, but the old lady still cut it up and gave them the remaining part.
Other families also ate some, but they couldn't eat as fast as the potatoes rotted. When they were finally rotten and inedible, they threw them to the chickens.
At this moment, everyone has just dug up potatoes from the ground, and every household may have a lot of broken potatoes.
If they can sell it for money, they should be happy, right?
She bought them to feed pigs, at most one penny for two pounds, but there was only one pig. The potatoes would rot easily after purchase and would not feed the pig for long.
Lin Chuntao: "After dinner, let's go to the village and ask if they sell dug potatoes."
"What's the price?" Lin Chunxing asked. Lin Chuntao replied, "Three catties for one penny. If no one wants to buy, then two catties for one penny."
Lin Chuntao suspected that many people were reluctant to sell them, at least they would think of keeping the larger potatoes to eat first, and only the small ones that were inedible would be sold.
After lunch, Lin Chuntao was boiling medicine, and Lin Duoer couldn't wait to buy potatoes. Lin Chunxing couldn't stand her annoyance, so she took her and Lin Chunhe there first.
They carried baskets on their backs and asked in the village.
When the villagers heard they were buying broken potatoes, they were surprised. "Chun Xing, didn't you buy potatoes from Grandma's house? Why did you buy broken potatoes?"
Lin Chunxing replied calmly, "My sister said to buy some more. Even if they are dug up, they are still rotten and can still be eaten. We can also cut them into potato slices and boil them and dry them in the sun."
After hearing this, everyone in the village understood and thought that they were reluctant to use the good potatoes to cut chips, so they bought some bad ones.
But the larger potatoes can be eaten after being cut in half, washed and peeled. It would be a pity to sell them. But the smaller ones are difficult to handle, so you can pick them up and sell them. It's good if you can get ten cents from them.
Lin Chunxing took Lin Chunhe and Lin Duoer with them, and soon they had filled their backpacks with things. The backpacks they carried were all small, each could hold about 30 kilograms, and when they were full, the sisters carried them home.
The yard was filled with a strong smell of medicine, and it was almost ready.
After Pei Ying came back from washing clothes, she went to fetch water. Lin Chuntao went over to help take down the backpack and looked at the potatoes she had bought. Most of them were only about the size of eggs, and were in the form of broken lumps. Some were whole small potatoes the size of quail eggs.
This was pretty much what she expected.
"Sister, where is this pile?" Lin Chunhe asked.
Lin Chuntao frowned slightly. If it fell on the ground, it would be a waste of time to pick it up every time. She said, "Put it aside for now. It's hot now. I'll do it later."
Lin Duoer and Lin Chunhe no longer needed to take medicine, only Lin Chunxing and Lin Chuntao were still taking it.
While waiting for the medicine to boil, the two sisters each took the medicine jar and poured a bowl of it to cool beside them.
Pei Ying came back with water and saw the three baskets of small potatoes. He asked Lin Chuntao, "Should we get a bamboo basket to put them in?"
Lin Chuntao nodded. "That's fine. I remember Aunt Guizhi has some. I'll go buy some after I finish my medicine."
Pei Ying responded.
The sun was scorching outside, and word had spread throughout the village that Lin Chuntao and her friends were buying rotten potatoes. Even a penny was still money, so those who heard about it asked the sellers, "Do they still want more? I probably have two or three baskets left at home."
"Chun Xing just said she wanted more, but now it's too hot to carry it, so she said she'd go back and rest for a while."
The woman who asked the question smiled and said, "It's just a small amount. It's nothing for us to send it to them."
As they were talking, the man had already returned to the house to pick potatoes. After picking them, he poured the ones he wanted to sell into a backpack and hurried back to the small thatched cottage where Lin Chuntao and the others lived.
Lin Chuntao was about to take the medicine when she heard someone knocking on the door.
Lin Chunhe ran to open the door and saw three aunts standing at the door with baskets on their backs. "Chunhe, where's your sister?" She asked as she peered into the yard. Lin Chuntao craned her neck at the sound, and when they met her eyes, she smiled and said, "Aunt, what do you want to talk to me about?"
"I'm home, come in."
As soon as the conversation was over, the women came in with baskets on their backs, their faces full of smiles: "I just heard your third grandmother say that you bought potatoes that were dug up and damaged. Do you still want some?"
Lin Chuntao looked at the things in the backpack and said with a smile, "I still need more. Aunt, please put it down and rest for a while. I will weigh it after I finish taking the medicine."
There were three women who came, and Lin Chunhe brought stools for them to sit on.
Lin Chuntao took the bowl of black medicine and drank it down in one gulp, pinching her nose. Pei Ying handed her a bowl of honey water, which she drank in one gulp.
Seeing her like this, the three of them frowned slightly.
"Chun Tao, what's wrong with you?"
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I caught a cold a few days ago. The doctor said I was in poor health and needed some medicine to recuperate."
"It's going to be very hard."
The woman said, "As the old saying goes, good medicine tastes bitter, and the bitterer it is, the better the effect."
While chatting, Lin Chuntao went into the house and took out a scale. The three of them carried almost 100 kilograms, so they had to find something to put them in. Lin Chuntao took the big backpack that Pei Ying had used before and used it temporarily.
After weighing the potatoes, the three of them did not keep any more and asked Lin Chuntao and the others if they wanted to buy more.
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Aunt, do other families have any left?"
The woman smiled and said, "Yes, every household has some, some as little as 20 or 30 kilograms, and some as much as 40 or 50 kilograms."
Lin Chuntao said, "I still need it, but if anyone else wants to sell it, please tell them to separate the bad ones from the good ones so I can store them."
The women agreed after hearing this, and they went back and told others what Lin Chuntao had said.
No one buys this thing. Even the big and good ones are only one penny per pound, and the slightly smaller ones are less than one penny.
Suddenly someone said they wanted to buy these small potatoes, and they wanted to sell all they had.
After seeing them off, Lin Chunxing smiled and said, "We don't need to go anymore, right?"
"Yes." Lin Chuntao said, "I'm going to Aunt Guizhi's house."
Pei Ying went with him to get the big bamboo basket.
Aunt Guizhi was boiling mugwort water in the yard, preparing to use it to wipe Lin Shuilian's body.
She had just heard people next door discussing Lin Chuntao buying spoiled potatoes, and was thinking of going to ask after boiling some water when Lin Chuntao and Pei Ying arrived.
"Aunt, do you have any large bamboo baskets here?"
Lin Chuntao asked as soon as she entered the door. Aunt Guizhi said, "The extra-large ones are gone. There are three medium-sized ones. Do you want to use them to store potatoes?"
"Well, a half-sized one should be enough. Sell it to both of us."
Aunt Guizhi said, "I'll get it for you later. What are you going to do with that rotten potato?"
Aunt Guizhi had a good relationship with her, so she didn't lie to her and whispered something in her ear. Aunt Guizhi looked at her in surprise.
"A family will sell you 20 or 30 kilograms. That's a lot. Can you finish it?"
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "It's a little uncertain. I haven't seen anything suitable. Otherwise, I could buy another one and raise it bigger to kill for the New Year."
Aunt Guizhi said, "If you want to buy it, I'll go and look around for you and tell you when I pick one."
"Wait two or three days. If you buy a lot of potatoes, you can take another look for me."
After Aunt Guizhi agreed, Lin Chuntao suddenly thought of something and said, "By the way, Aunt, what are you going to plant in your vacant lot?"
Lin Chuntao asked this, and there must be more to come. Aunt Guizhi smiled and said, "It's not decided yet. What do you want to plant?"
Lin Chuntao said, "Isn't Chunxing selling soup noodles? We need tomatoes and leeks. We usually buy them at the market, but I'm afraid they'll be hard to find in a few days. We also have corn planted in our fields, so I wanted to ask if there's any vacant land we can use to grow other things..."
Before she finished speaking, Aunt Guizhi said, "No, tell me how many tomatoes and leeks you want to plant, and I'll get them for you."
Seeing that she was going to take over, Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I'll get some tomato seedlings and leek roots tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Auntie can plant them then. When they're ready to harvest, I'll give them to you at the market price."
After hearing what she said, Aunt Guizhi wanted to go get the seedlings, but then she thought about the corn seeds that Lin Chuntao got herself, which were growing very well. Many corn husks had already grown tassels, and the harvest this year would definitely be good. It would be better to listen to her and just give her the money for the seedlings when the time comes.
After the matter was settled, Pei Ying looked out from the gate and saw that many people were carrying baskets on their backs and heading home.
He said something to Lin Chuntao, and Lin Chuntao couldn't stay to chat.
Aunt Guizhi went to get a bamboo basket. Lin Chuntao counted the money and gave it to Aunt Guizhi, but she refused to take it. Lin Chuntao said with a smile, "Aunt, if you don't take it, how can I have the nerve to come to you to get something next time? Please take it and I will go back first."
When she saw two children running out of the house before leaving, Lin Chuntao looked at Aunt Guizhi and said, "I was so busy before that I didn't even know their names."
Aunt Guizhi said, "Eldest brother Lin Hu, younger sister Lin Zhaoyin, your great grandfather helped to think of it."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "That's good." Then she asked them, "Do you want to come to my house with me?"
The brother and sister pursed their lips, wanting to go but then shook their heads. Lin Chuntao asked with a smile, "Not going? Then come to my house with grandma next time."
The brother and sister then nodded.
When Lin Chuntao and Pei Ying came back with the big bamboo basket, there were more than a dozen people standing in the yard. Each of them was carrying two small backpacks, and there was another person squatting in the yard picking up things. They were all very enthusiastic to see Lin Chuntao coming back.
Lin Chuntao also greeted them with a smile, weighed the goods and paid them. The big bamboo basket was placed in the yard, and after weighing, Lin Chuntao poured the goods into it.
The sisters were busy all afternoon.
Sun went to visit relatives and came back near dusk. As soon as she entered the village, she heard about Lin Chuntao and the others, so she came here directly without going home.
The old couple looked at the two large bamboo baskets in their yard, one of which was mostly filled with potatoes.
"Hey, why did you buy so much of this?"
Lin Chuntao was smiling and about to speak when she heard the piglet grunting over there. Lin Cunzheng went over to take a look. The piglet had grown a lot in size, but was not fat.
Lin Chuntao whispered something to Sun, who said, "It's so precious, yet you still have to feed it with grain? Has this pig been castrated?"
"It's been castrated. The doctor told me to eat more meat to replenish my body. I can't afford to buy meat every day, so I'm waiting to kill it during the Chinese New Year. It won't grow any meat..."
As they were talking, Mrs. Sun went over to take a look. It was too small. The pig had to be raised until next year before it could be slaughtered.
The two she had in her family were raised last year and were about the same size as these two.
This one is too young. It’s only a few months old before the New Year. How can I kill it?
Lin Chuntao said, "These rotten potatoes are rare in every household. If you feed them to pigs, they won't produce more than a few pounds of meat and will make the pigs picky. I wanted to buy some and see if I could do something with them."
Sun nodded, still feeling sorry for the money, but buying meat was indeed more expensive, there was nothing she could do about it.
The old couple sat in the yard for a while. Lin Chuntao also talked about the tomato seedlings and leek roots. She said that she would buy them at the price of vegetables when they grew up. Sun had no objection and agreed directly.
After determining the approximate number they needed to plant, Lin Chuntao planned to exchange them back tomorrow and give them to them to plant first.
By then, you can see how much is left in the field, and you won’t have to go out to buy it and carry it back, which is a waste of effort.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com