But these days, 10,000 yuan is a lot of money. When he went to deposit the money, he said he wanted to deposit 10,000 yuan, which startled the director of the savings bank.
If you were to save 20,000, who knows what the outcome would be?
So Sheng Xiping thought about it and decided to deposit 10,000 yuan for now, and when Zhou Qinglan came back, he would open another account in her name and deposit another 10,000 yuan, so that it wouldn't be so conspicuous.
The cash and bankbook were placed in a small bag, which was then stuffed at the bottom of the box. Sheng Xiping then closed the box and locked it again.
The forest farm is safe. The Sheng family keeps six dogs and a big tiger. Even if a petty thief were to come and harass the Sheng family, they wouldn't dare to rummage around.
Otherwise, Zhang Shuzhen wouldn't have left the door unlocked and taken the child out like that.
With no one home, Sheng Xiping sat in front of the kang (a heated brick bed), took out a small notebook from the bottom drawer, and wrote something down.
Including the money from this trip and the money he saved from hunting in the past, he probably has about 40,000 yuan in his hands.
Sheng Xiping didn't tell his parents about the money he made from trading timber on those two occasions, nor did he plan to give it to his family.
One reason was that he was afraid the amount would be too large and frighten his parents, causing them worry. Another reason was that he intended to keep the money as capital for future use.
The economic climate has not been very conducive to doing business in recent years, and Sheng Xiping has no plans to do anything drastic.
He just went to work diligently, and when there were people buying wood, he would act as a go-between, earning a little extra money. That was good enough for him.
In a few years, at least after 1983, when the external environment is better, he can then think about what to do.
Just as Sheng Xiping put the notebook into the drawer, he heard a noise at the front door. It was Zhang Shuzhen leading Sheng Xinhua and Sheng Xinyu back.
Sheng Xiping quickly came out of the house and saw Zhang Shuzhen carrying a basket on her back and holding her two grandsons in her hands.
"Mom, where have you been? Did you go to work in the fields again?"
"Oh dear, if anything's wrong, just wait for me to come back. You're already taking care of two kids, why bother going out and tiring yourself out?"
Sheng Xiping stepped forward and took the basket from Zhang Shuzhen's back.
Only then did Sheng Xiping realize that the basket on his back contained some green corn.
"Hey, the corn we planted is ready? Isn't it early?"
When this matter was brought up, Zhang Shuzhen sighed, "Oh dear, don't even mention it."
Our cornfield next to the woods was probably attacked by bears last night; a large portion of the corn was flattened.
Jianshe told me this morning. I was worried, so I took them both to the field and picked all the fallen corn cobs.
"Huh? A bear got into the cornfield?" Sheng Xiping was stunned when he heard this.
"That night I'll go for a stroll in the fields. If things get bad, I'll set off a few bombs. We can't let the bears keep coming to wreak havoc on the land."
Sheng Xiping hadn't worked for the agricultural team for several years, and with all the timber business he'd been busy with lately, he'd forgotten that his land, which bordered the forest, was prone to wild boars and bears.
Originally, Sheng Xiping was unhappy that his parents were picking up small plots of wasteland, but he couldn't resist the insistence of Sheng Liancheng and his wife on planting them, and Sheng Xiping couldn't argue with them.
We can't let the old couple work so hard only to have the bears ruin it all. We need to put some effort into managing it. In another month, it will be about time to harvest the land.
"What should we do with these corn cobs?" Sheng Xiping glanced at the corn in the basket on his back, which contained about thirty ears. "How about we boil them for lunch?"
"Boil it, otherwise it's useless to keep it, it hasn't grown yet."
Zhang Shuzhen instructed her grandson to fetch her a stool, then emptied all the corn cobs from the basket on her back and, right there in the yard, removed the corn cobs from the outside and picked off the corn silk.
The temperature is lower in Qianchuan, and the solar terms are a few days later than in Songjianghe.
Some of these corn kernels are alright; they harden slightly when pinched with a fingernail, and the inside is powdery. Others are still too tender; when pinched with a fingernail, white sap comes out. Even if you were to eat them green, they would be too tender.
As Zhang Shuzhen husked the corn, she cursed the bear, saying that if it weren't for the bear entering the field and causing trouble, these corns wouldn't be blind.
Zhang Shuzhen worked while cursing, and soon she had shoveled all the corn out.
Sheng Xiping checked the time, quickly went to light the fire, add water, threw the corn into the pot, and started cooking.
After Zhang Shuzhen finished husking the corn, she went to the vegetable garden to pick some green beans and then took a piece of salted pork from the jar. She washed it several times with clean water and cut it into many slices.
Pick the green beans, break them in half, wash them, and then peel a few potatoes and cut them into chunks.
Heat the wok, scoop a spoonful of lard from the oil jar and melt it, then add the sliced salted pork and stir-fry, followed by chopped green onions and stir-fry until fragrant.
Next, put the green beans into the pot and stir-fry continuously until they are fully cooked. Then add salt, Sichuan peppercorn powder, soy sauce, and other seasonings and continue to stir-fry for a while before adding water to simmer.
Simmer the green beans for a while, and when they seem almost done, add the potato chunks. Then, stick a ring of hot water dough cakes (mostly cornmeal and less wheat flour) around the edge of the pot.
Cover the pot and let it simmer. Once the green beans and potatoes are cooked, the flatbread will be ready too, with a layer of golden-reddish crispy rice at the bottom, which smells delicious.
The corn in the pot over there was cooked, and the whole yard was filled with the sweet aroma of fresh corn.
At 11:30, Sheng Xitai got out of school and smelled a delicious aroma as soon as he entered the house. "Mom, what are you making at home? It smells so good!"
"You have a sharp nose, you can't hide anything from me. I boiled some corn today, let's eat corn for lunch." Zhang Shuzhen glanced at her eldest son and said with a look of disgust.
"Wow, there's corn! That's great!" Sheng Xitai jumped up with joy upon hearing this.
The Sheng family didn't farm before. The forestry farm's agricultural team did farm some, but that was public land and no one got a share.
In previous years, the Liu family would occasionally send over ten or eight ears of corn, which the children considered a rare treat.
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