Chapter 262 Oil Pressing
The next day, some laborers were organized from all over the place, came to the city wall of Heihe Village, and started digging the mountain.
The villagers of Heihe Village came out to watch the excitement for a while and then went back. It was not that they did not want to help, but they were simply very busy themselves.
More than ten days later, a piece of land was dug out from the mountain at the entrance of the village, which was enough to build a school.
However, since the rapeseed has matured, people from all over the country have gone back to harvest it.
Heihe Village is also harvesting rapeseed. Villagers are busy in the fields with sickles, and the whole village is bustling with activity.
In the Ye family's rapeseed field, the three Ye brothers were waving their sickles. Ye Yanping worked very fast, and soon a large number of rapeseed stalks fell down.
"Everyone, work hard while the weather is good! In ten days or half a month, we'll be able to enjoy delicious new oil!"
The village head stood on the edge of the field, a satisfied smile on his wrinkled face.
The villagers laughed and said, "I know, I know!"
"Our sickles are about to spark!"
The harvested rapeseed stalks are neatly placed in the fields. After the rapeseed pods are dried and dried, they can be threshed.
After about ten days, all the rapeseed stalks turned yellow under the sun. The villagers carried large bamboo mats from their homes and spread them in the fields, then carefully placed the yellowed rapeseed stalks on the mats.
Then he raised the connecting rod and slapped it, and with a crackling sound, the pods broke open and the rapeseeds rolled onto the mat.
The rapeseed is collected and brought home, where it is cleaned of debris and then fried.
This kind of work is usually done by experienced old people, because the frying time is very important, and over-cooking or over-raw will affect the oil yield.
After the rapeseed is fried, it is put into a stone mill and ground into powder.
At this point, it needs to be steamed.
There is an oil press next to the ancestral hall in Heihe Village, which is used specifically for pressing oil for the entire village.
The villagers brought firewood from their homes, lit a fire in the stove outside the oil mill, and steamed the ground rapeseed in a pot.
After the hot steam is released, pour the rapeseed into the iron ring containing rice ears and compact it to make rapeseed cakes.
This step is crucial. The prepared rapeseed cake must be squeezed while the temperature is high so that the oil yield will be high.
This is why villagers don’t steam rapeseed at home. If they steam it at home and then send it here for oil pressing, the rapeseed will be cold by then.
This morning it was the Ye family's turn to press oil. Ye Yanping and others were busy putting the hot rapeseed into a round iron ring and compacting it.
Little Dumpling ran into the oil press and saw a huge piece of wood placed horizontally against the wall. It was so big that three or four adults couldn't hold it together. The middle of the wood was hollowed out into a square groove.
There is a large solid wooden stake hanging on the beam in the middle of the house. I don’t know what it is used for.
"Daughter, watch daddy throw the discus!"
Ye Yanping placed the rapeseed cakes one by one in the groove in the middle of the wood in an orderly manner, and then inserted a lot of wooden wedges to secure them.
"Hey, where's the Queen? Why are you so thick?"
Little Dumpling was staring intently, it turns out this is the traditional method of oil extraction, quite interesting!
"My daughter, watch!"
Ye Yanping patiently pointed at the large wooden stake hanging from the beam and said, "Use this heavy wood weighing hundreds of pounds to hammer the wooden wedges. The more you hammer, the tighter the wooden wedges become, and the oil will slowly be squeezed out!"
"The chicken is on the way!"
Little Jiuer ran to the big wooden stake and waved his little hand. The force in the space pushed the big wooden stake towards the wooden wedge.
"Bang!"
With a loud bang, all the wooden wedges were knocked into the grooves.
The clear oil flowed along the groove into the wooden barrel below, and the aroma of rapeseed oil immediately spread.
"My daughter, you..." Ye Yanping was so shocked that he couldn't speak.
Even he couldn't hammer in all the wooden wedges at once.
In front of his two-year-old daughter, he seemed a little weak as a father.
For a moment, Ye Yanping felt a little sad.
It seemed that his daughter didn't need his protection at all.
"Let's go play!"
The little dumpling turned around, waved his two little arms and ran away.
As I walked past the ancestral hall, I met Widow Zhang and Shuihe who were carrying rapeseed.
When the two saw Xiaotuanzi, they stopped immediately and respectfully called him "Master Xiaojiu".
"Hello, cute!"
Little Dumpling didn't like the mother and daughter very much, but he still responded politely and continued to run forward with his short legs.
"Master Xiaojiu, wait a moment. We have something to ask you!"
"Hmm?" The little girl stopped running in confusion. "What kind of horse is this?"
Zhang glanced at Shui He and put on a smile. "Master Xiao Jiu is a little fairy. I want to ask about Shui He's marriage..."
Ask about marriage?
The little girl waved her hands quickly, "You're asking the wrong question!"
Shui He was anxious and said with a sad face: "Master Xiao Jiu, you are a little immortal, can you give me some advice, what should I do now?"
After the incident at the threshing ground, the village head originally wanted Sanheizi's family to be responsible, but Sanheizi's family was unwilling to pay a high price for the bride price, which caused the marriage to be delayed.
Later, Shui He tried to seduce Zhou Huaining again, and the whole village knew about it, which completely angered San Heizi's family. His family announced that the marriage was no longer valid.
At first, Zhang wanted to marry Shuihe to a wealthy family in the town as a concubine, but after she dug out a large stone with words on it while planting trees, she changed her mind. Nowhere could be better than staying in Heihe Village.
The most important thing is that after Shui He suffered that blow from Zhou Huaining, she completely became a different person and began to think about San Hei Zi's kindness all the time.
Although Zhang was short-sighted, she still cared about her daughter after all.
There are many families in Heihe Village who are better off than Sanheizi's family, but Zhang thought that as long as they are in Heihe Village, they will definitely not be too bad.
Therefore, Shui He now wants to reconcile with San Hei Zi and resume their old relationship.
"What should I do? Just let it go!" Little Dumpling said fiercely, "Don't chase me away!"
You seduce Second Uncle one moment and Uncle Ning the next. You are a lewd person!
Shui He cried, "Master Xiao Jiu, I know I was wrong! After going through so much, I finally understand how good San Heizi was to me. It's all my fault for always wanting to get ahead overnight. I completely broke his heart. Now I regret it!"
"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing? Is it appropriate to talk about this with a little kid?" Luo Qiuyue hurried over from the oil mill. "Are you guys using Xiao Jiuer as a matchmaker?"
Zhang and Shuihe didn't dare to say a word.
Luo Qiuyue sighed, "It was such a good hand, but you and your mother messed it up."
I almost went to her house to propose marriage.
Zhang said with a bitter face, "It's my fault. I was so obsessed with letting her become a phoenix. Now I've lost more than I gained. I regret it!"
Luo Qiuyue said: "Since Shui He likes San Hei Zi, just tell him sincerely. It's better to rely on yourself than to ask others for help!"
"But he doesn't want to believe me." Shui He cried.
Luo Qiuyue shook her head and walked home with the little girl in her arms. When passing by the river, she saw some little kids using nets to catch fish and shrimps by the river.
After the snowstorm, the river that had been dry began to have water. In addition, there was a lot of rain this spring, and the water level of the river gradually rose.
The water was less than knee-deep, so there was no danger for the little kid to catch fish.
There were not many aquatic products in the river. The children could only catch a few small shrimps at most, and they jumped for joy.
"Anai!" Little Dumpling's eyes sparkled, "Dig a fish pond and raise fish!"
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