Most people think that eating zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) during the Dragon Boat Festival is common sense, but in many places in the Bajun Mountain area, people don't eat zongzi but instead eat steamed buns!
Moreover, newly engaged sons-in-law and newly married sons-in-law who have been married for less than three years must send steamed buns to their mothers-in-law's family. The quantity is large, sometimes dozens or even hundreds.
It is a great honor for the woman to receive a large basket of buns dyed with red amaranth and topped with bright red.
The weather is hot during the Dragon Boat Festival, and these buns need to be shared with relatives and friends, which also shows the daughter's happy marriage and the son-in-law's generosity and wealth.
After cleaning up the dilapidated area of Qingquan Bay, Errui immediately went to Lihua Town to invite the carpenter he used to work with when he repaired houses in the village.
Upon hearing that it was another house repair project, the carpenter, who had been greeting him with a smile, changed his expression and asked with a hint of fear, "You need to repair houses again? How many jobs are there? And how many households are involved?"
Before the Lunar New Year, he spent a month working as a carpenter in Xujia Village with his apprentices. After returning home, he lay in bed for ten days before recovering.
It was so tiring. The work in Xujia Village was like working your life out. You could do more in a month than you would in three months.
As he watched the houses rise one by one, he couldn't slow down even if he wanted to, and he stayed up all night to finish the work.
Fortunately, he earned a lot from doing a lot of work. If it weren't for the money, he would have quit halfway through. Now he's afraid of Xujia Village.
Xu Errui comforted him, "Master Luo, just a few doors and windows, a wooden frame, and a few long tables!"
Carpenter Luo heard little and was relieved: "Okay, I'll pack my things and come tomorrow!"
Others are afraid of not having work, but he's afraid of having work.
Carpenter Luo knew very well that the work he had done in Xujia Village before the New Year had made the two Wang brothers extremely jealous.
We were both carpenters from Pear Blossom Town and had met a few times in town.
The brothers Wang Fu and Wang Gui were utterly antagonistic; if they didn't also have a group of apprentices, they would definitely have fought.
However, Carpenter Luo was also very happy. The people of Xujia Village said that after the house was repaired, they would make furniture for him, and he would have work every year.
He just hopes things will proceed slowly, rather than rushing from one company to another.
The carpenter arrived, and the timber and tiles he had exchanged at the post station, which he had originally intended to use to build his own house, were also sent to Qingquan Bay.
First, they built the roof, then the doors and windows, the tabletops, and the stove.
In addition, Jiang Zhi instructed Er Rui and Xiao Man to build a drying room, which is a very important facility. Fortunately, the two had experience in building kang (a heated brick bed), so they were able to make a decent drying room, although they would have to dismantle it several times.
It's so convenient to have a post station next to the village now.
In the past, when we went to the county town to ask Zhang Juntou and his men to help us flag down passing cars, we had to wait by the roadside.
Now things are different. Although the post stations were meant to serve government officials and errand runners, the government was short of funds. To increase revenue, the post stations had long since tacitly allowed ordinary people to stay there.
However, a separate lower house needs to be set up, separate from the rooms used by officials.
Once the post station in Xujia Village was built, travelers and caravans began to stop and rest there, and some even stayed overnight.
The people of Xujia Village can hitch a ride with a caravan or take a carriage from the post station; they only need to pay separately.
Although Cao Yicheng had no prior connection with Village Chief Jiang, he still had to handle this small matter since it was near Xujia Village, and besides, the post station was for this kind of work.
Jiang Zhi took Xia Xiucai and his wife to the county town. One of them wanted to sell embroidery at Qiaozhenfang, and the other wanted to buy some books and writing materials.
Xia Yuan cannot practice calligraphy using only stone slabs; he still needs paper.
The children in the village also need textbooks. Although they can't each have one, they should at least share a few.
With Magistrate Zhang's guidance, Xia Xiucai now has a clear life goal in mind, but he can't quite put his finger on it.
Jiang Zhi said that Xia Xiucai would not accept tuition fees, but the villagers would have to help cultivate the land at home.
Whether you have children or not, you need to work the same way. If you feel you're being taken advantage of, then go to the night class and study hard.
Now that there's a pharmacy in Qingquan Bay, the village's storage rooms have less space to store things, so one section can be converted into a classroom for winter use.
Most of the time, they still had to use the drying shed outside the warehouse, since the children had to help with chores during the day, and they still ran night school.
With Jiang Zhi taking her on this trip, the happiest person was the scholar's wife, as she could now buy and sell embroidery thread and embroidery products on her own.
The scholar's wife never imagined that going to the city would be so convenient in the future. With the embroidery products available for sale, the family's situation would soon improve.
Jiang Zhi made several trips to the county town. In addition to bringing the scholar's family into the town, she also asked Miss Huo for help to purchase everything from the Huo family's pharmacy.
It sounds easy, but in reality, I was extremely busy. By the time everything was finished, it had been a full month and a half.
By mid-March, temperatures were rising, grass was growing, birds were singing, and flowers were blooming.
Jiang Zhi dug up the magnolia tree she had been longing for from the Huo family and planted it in the ground.
The previously planted Ophiopogon japonicus has already undergone one round of field management. In addition to topdressing, weeding and loosening of the soil are also necessary.
The rapeseed flowers planted in Xujia Village have bloomed, turning the whole place into a golden expanse, and it's also the season for sowing and cultivating early corn seedlings.
There's so much farm work to do!
This time, without Jiang Zhi even needing to remind them, the villagers were already asking each other: "Did you grow early corn this year and sell it as green grain?"
Those who followed Jiang Zhi's lead in making manure balls to plant early corn last year have already reaped the benefits, and this year they are determined to plant it no matter what.
If you can harvest an extra crop of grain by working hard for a few days, why not plant it?
As for being reluctant to sell the grain... as long as it's converted into silver to pay taxes to the government, the second harvest can be entirely consumed by oneself.
Even families who had no income last year had to plant crops; it was a very unpleasant feeling to stand by and watch others make money.
Xu Genqing was making sarcastic remarks last year, but this year he started composting manure early on. Whatever Tian Gui and the others do, he just follows suit.
Xu Changming also urged his family to compost the soil. While cursing the city's gluttons for eating green grains and saying they were heartless, he also urged them to plant more!
So Jiang Zhi was still preparing medicine shop equipment at Qingquan Bay.
In the fields of Xujia Village, every household is already busy playing with mud!
On the mountain, Grandpa Xiaoman was also rubbing off the mud, and Peiqi was rubbing it off with him.
The wild boar was puzzled by the humans stealing its dung, but it just grunted a few times and ran away.
The two sows we bought last summer are now over six months old, their bodies have matured, and they even show signs of estrus.
Peiqi no longer complained about the fact that the pigs were eating coarse bran. She stood guard outside the pigsty every day. If Chunfeng hadn't stopped her, Peiqi would have jumped into the pen.
Although the sow has started to go into heat, she is still only a very young adult.
According to Xiaoman's grandparents' old habits, the sooner they had a piglet, the better.
Jiang Zhi, however, wanted to wait another two months to allow the sows to fully mature before they could mate and give birth.
So now Chunfeng is suffering, having to chase the pigs around every day to prevent Peiqi from making mistakes.
The broad beans have been flowering these past few days, attracting several butterflies. Nini and Xiaocaixia are playing on the edge of the field.
Hu Dou
Qiaoyun picked a broad bean leaf from the side, gently rubbed it in her palm, and the outer skin on the back of the broad bean leaf peeled off in layers. With just a gentle blow, it puffed up into a transparent ball.
"Hehehe! Auntie lets me play with it!" Nini laughed happily, carefully holding the bubble leaves of the broad bean to look at them.
Xiao Caixia didn't ask for any, but instead copied her mother's actions, concentrating on rubbing the leaves, rubbing another one as soon as it tore.
Nini, who was almost five years old, became impatient and quickly put down the bubble leaves to pick broad bean flowers. Qiaoyun immediately stopped her, saying, "Nini, don't pick the flowers. Auntie will dry the broad beans with salt water for you to eat later!"
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