Chapter 55 The Village Chief is Back
The sunset in the evening is always very beautiful, and the whole small mountain village is shrouded in orange and purple. After a busy day, the vegetables are finally harvested.
After Father Ye had paid the helpers, he turned around and saw Younger Brother Ye sprawled on the straw mat in the yard, looking as if he was out of his mind.
"Hurry up, what are you doing lying here? Cover the vegetables on the ground with the tarp."
There were so many vegetables that were collected that they couldn’t be put away at home, so some vegetables had to be placed in the yard. Although it didn’t look like it would rain at night, we still had to use something to block the rain just in case.
Brother Ye felt so tired that he was about to die. He worked with a bent back for the whole day. He felt that his knees and shoulders were sore when he moved. Farm work is really not something that ordinary people can do.
Oh, except his sister!
"Let me rest for a while! This old ox needs to catch its breath."
Ye's father laughed and scolded, "Go quickly when you've rested enough. A man should have work in his eyes, and don't complain about the hardship and tiredness of doing something. If you don't do this job, who else do you want to leave it to?"
Little Brother Ye said weakly: "I know, you just know how to order me around."
Ye's mother was helping Ye's grandmother cook pig food. Last time Ye really wanted to raise pigs, although Ye's mother disagreed, she couldn't persuade him in the end, so she asked Ye's father to go to the next village to buy three and a half grown piglets. Now they are raised in the back mountain. He cooks pig food every other day. Ye's father built a shed inside and put some straw on it, and let them roam around as they please. Anyway, the whole back mountain belongs to them.
I didn't go to check on the pigs for the past two days. Grandma Ye was worried that the pigs couldn't find food, so she picked up some vegetable leaves and roots, rinsed them with water, and then chopped them and poured them into the big pot that was already boiling.
While the steam was rising, Grandma Ye poured the chopped pumpkin and sweet potato into the pot and stirred them. She added some boiled rice, covered the pot with a lid, and asked Grandpa Ye, who was lighting the fire, to turn up the heat and stew the pumpkin and other ingredients until cooked.
Grandma Ye picked up a big spoon, walked into the bag next to the firewood pile and scooped a spoonful of rice bran. The rice bran would eventually be mixed into the pig feed. Mother Ye brought in a basket of old cucumbers. The vegetables on the slope ripened too quickly, and some cucumbers were old, so they had to be left to feed the pigs.
The pig food was almost cooked. As soon as the lid of the pot was opened, a rich aroma wafted into the air. Sweet potatoes and pumpkins were mixed together and rolled around. Mother Ye smacked her lips and suddenly felt that the pig food was delicious too.
This pig life is so happy!
Pour the chopped cucumber leaves in as well. Just by blanching them, the fresh fragrance burst out like a punctured drop of water, and Mother Ye took a deep breath.
What should I do? Why does this pig food smell so good? She wants to scoop a spoonful to taste it.
Grandpa Ye, who was sitting below and making a fire, couldn't help but sniffle:
"Our Ye Zi should have come back earlier to plant the crops. Look how well they've grown. Everything that grows in this field tastes good."
"Before Ye Zi came back, everything I ate had no taste and my arms and legs were weak. Now, I'm busy working all day long. Hey! My stomach always makes a rumbling sound and I get hungry before mealtime."
"Especially when you eat vegetables grown in the fields, the more you eat, the more you want to eat."
Grandma Ye nodded in agreement: "I feel the same way. I used to always have cold hands and feet, colds and coughs. Now that I've been busy looking after the vegetable garden, I feel much better all over!"
"I'm so old, but I can still make money from farming." Grandma Ye shook her head and laughed while working.
…………
The next morning, the mist had not yet dissipated, and the gentle breeze rustled the green forests in the mountains, and the mountain birds were singing.
In the sunshine, Grandpa Ye sat on a small stool and made a cat tease out of straw. Two fat cats lazily lay at his feet, rubbing against the old man from time to time.
"Grandpa, do you want some tomatoes?" Little Brother Ye washed two bright red tomatoes and handed them to him.
"Give me a small one, or I won't be able to eat later." Grandpa Ye didn't mind getting his hands dirty and directly put down the woven cat toy in his hand.
Father Ye had carried the pig food to the back mountain early in the morning, and when he came back he asked:
"Ye Zi, when will Wanmao Supermarket arrive?"
Ye Zhen: "We should wait a while, let's have breakfast first."
Mother Ye drank a mouthful of porridge and said, "There are too many vegetables here. How many kilograms are there?"
Father Ye: "Who knows? They will come to collect it soon."
"I just don't know how many trucks they have sent to load it. What if they can't load it?"
When will too many crops become a burden? Anyway, Ye really hopes that this burden will be a little bigger.
Grandma Ye smacked her lips and said, "Life is much better now than before. We can buy such expensive vegetables whenever we want. There are many rich people who can afford to eat them."
But think about the taste of these dishes - you can tell from the grunting of those pigs on the mountain this morning, they ran out from far away, as if they hadn't eaten them for eight lifetimes, so you know how delicious they are.
Didn’t you see that Ye Ma kept swallowing her saliva while she was cooking pig food?
But the old lady refused to admit her age. She harvested a lot of vegetables from the slope and had to fertilize and plant again. This time she was quite imposing:
"Hurry up and finish eating. The buyers will be here soon and need to help with weighing and carrying. I don't know if people have eaten after traveling so far. How about cooking some fresh vegetables and letting them taste them first?"
The dish is indeed delicious, but it is too expensive, five times the price. The old lady still feels that it is a bit unrealistic.
When I was young, I followed Grandpa Ye to set up stalls. I might not sell out all the goods from early morning to afternoon. I made a few dollars and gave half of it away to others.
Ye Zhen was helpless:
"Granny, you really don't have to worry about them not coming or not wanting to come. The contract is signed in black and white, and if you break the contract you have to pay compensation."
Grandma Ye snorted proudly:
"If someone wants to cheat, can you find them?"
Well, facts speak louder than words. Ye Zhen looked at the address shared on his mobile phone and saw that Zhao Feng and the others had arrived.
Today, the Ye family is very lively!
When many villagers heard that someone really came to buy vegetables at five times the price, they swarmed into Ye Zhen's yard.
"Ye Minghai, how do you grow these vegetables? Our vegetables are not as good as yours?" someone asked?
"If you have their mentality, maybe you can sell it." Ye Xiaoying came to Ye Zhen's house early in the morning to join in the fun.
The group was chatting and laughing, when suddenly someone shouted in surprise, "The village chief is back."
After waiting for so many days, the villagers of Shanbei Village have become anxious. Every day someone calls to inquire about someone, or just hangs around the village entrance. They have never been so eager for someone to come back!
It seems that what they are looking forward to is their promising future!
Ye Zhen raised his eyebrows, and saw a thin middle-aged man coming over. After greeting the people around him with a smile, he turned and stared at the vegetables in the yard.
Dad Ye brought out the tea that Grandma Ye had specially prepared. There were not many chairs in the house, and most of the villagers preferred to stand, holding tea in their hands, looking forward to the arrival of the purchaser.
Ye Zhen was thinking: the people are back, the land is there, and it’s time to plant her strawberries.
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