Chapter 454 Chapter 456: Debt
At this time, more and more people came to sell truffles. Zhou's mother asked them to line up, and those who were thirsty and cold went to scoop ginger soup to drink.
Those who were thirsty heard that there was ginger soup, so they quickly put down their baskets, lined up, and went to the eaves to scoop up ginger soup to drink.
The yard was soon filled with people, all of whom were villagers from several nearby villages, and they were all relatives.
While everyone was standing in the yard waiting for the scale to be weighed, they gathered together to talk, all discussing the matter of digging truffles.
Although the reform and opening up have taken place, most of the villagers in the mountains are uninformed and only know how to earn money by selling their labor. There are few factories and mines being built these days, so there are not many opportunities to sell labor.
The price of Zhou's truffles is not low. It is said that if you are lucky, you can earn more in a day than those well-connected people can earn in a month working in a cement factory or a coal mine.
The news spread quickly, and everyone in the Fangtian Brigade who could go up the mountain went up the mountain. The pine and chestnut forests that were deserted during these days in previous years were now full of people digging truffles.
But everyone remembered what the Zhou family said, that they had to fill in the ground after digging truffles, otherwise there would be no truffles to dig in the future.
The man quickly sorted the truffles into different grades, and Zhao Huifang put the selected ones back into her backpack. "Take these back and they will be weighed for you."
"Oh oh!" The man hurriedly picked up the backpack and stood in front of Li Qiuyue and Luo Haili to watch them weigh themselves.
The two weighed and reported the weights, "First-class: 11.5 jin, second-class: 23 jin, third-class: 34 jin, and last-class: 21 jin."
Zhang Xiuxiang and Jiang Yu took the weighed truffles, sorted them by grade, put them in bamboo baskets and brought them to the backyard for cleaning.
Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding, who were working in the corridor, also came. They looked at the people in the yard and were stunned for a moment. "It's only a little after four o'clock, why are there so many people here?"
Before she finished speaking, Li Qiuyue shouted, "Yiding, quickly send these truffles to the backyard for cleaning."
"Great! Great!" Zhou Yiding picked up a bamboo basket in one hand and ran to the backyard.
Zhou Huaian also sat down at the small square table, "Yan'er, I'll settle the bill and pay the money, you keep the account!"
Yang Chunyan nodded and said, "We are busy today. Xiaoxue said this morning that everyone from Fangtian Brigade has gone up the mountain."
"The oven will be ready tomorrow, so we don't have to worry about the large crowds."
Zhou Huaian picked up a piece of meat and gave it to the villager who came to get meat, but he thought that this would not work and he had to find a butcher to set up a stall.
After yesterday afternoon, both the sellers and collectors had gained experience, and everyone lined up in order when they arrived.
The receiving department is busy but not chaotic as it picks goods, weighs them, delivers them and keeps accounts.
When they arrived at Zhou Datian's and Zhou Sanba's homes, they saw a long line of people outside the yard. They hurried to the aisle and entered the backyard, put their baskets aside, and went to help pick, sort, and wash the truffles.
After a while, Secretary Xu also came with his son. They were all surprised when they saw him. "Oh my god, the youngest son's house is even more lively than when the brigade paid the public grain!"
When the brigade secretary of Fangtian Brigade saw Secretary Xu coming up to greet him with a smile, he said with some jealousy, "Secretary Xu, next year there will be a millionaire in your village."
After dealing with Zhou Huaian several times, he knew that this guy was a slippery person and would definitely not join in the fun of selecting the ten thousand yuan household.
To be honest, being a ten thousand yuan household is just a reputation, and those who are awarded this title will definitely not have a stable life.
Secretary Xu smiled and said, "It's too early to become a millionaire! I heard from Dasong that they just help the boss in the provincial capital to collect goods, and the whole family only earns a little wages, which may not be as much as you earn."
Secretary Fang didn't believe it. "Is that so? How unprofitable is it?"
Secretary Xu stood with him on the side of the road and talked in a low voice, "How can I tell whether it is worthwhile or not! I heard from Dasong that the husband of his youngest wife studied with Doctor Wang of Deshengtang in the county for several years."
"The youngest wife followed the old man to the mountains to collect herbs since she was young. After she got married, she took her family to the mountains to find herbs and sent them to Deshengtang to sell. Deshengtang was also helping a big boss in the provincial capital to collect goods, so the job of collecting truffles was handed over to them."
Secretary Fang suddenly realized, "So that's how it is. No wonder such a nice big tiled house was built in such a short time."
Secretary Xu said: "His family suffered a lot to build this brick house. The bricks and tiles for several rooms were all made by the whole family, young and old, pulling yellow mud and making adobes. Even Liu the potter admired them and said that this family was really hardworking."
"I've always had high hopes for his family. They may be poor, but the children are all united, even the daughter-in-law is of one mind. As the saying goes, harmony in the family brings prosperity, and since the whole family is hardworking, it's only a matter of time before they become rich."
Secretary Fang echoed, "That's right! The wife of Fang Zhiqiang in our village is from Yangjiaping. She came here with her husband to dig herbs to make money, and she moved into the big tile house last month."
"The jealous people in the village only saw that they were building a big tiled house, but they didn't see that the couple had been so tired after working for so many months that they were dark and thin, not much different from people who lived during the Great Famine."
Secretary Xu: "To be honest, I hope they can get along well with Deshengtang and find more ways for everyone to make money."
"His family started digging herbs to sell in the first half of the year, and later they collected eels and herbs in the village. Now they help collect truffles. Everyone has a way to make money, and there are fewer people fighting over money in the village."
Secretary Fang thought what he said was right. "That's right. Actually, our village also benefited from them. Today, no one in the village sat by the wall to bask in the sun and play cards. Everyone went up the mountain. Thanks to their relationship, otherwise how could such a good thing have come to our village?"
Secretary Xu smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Yes, we can sell the truffles that no one wants and make money. At the end of the year, everyone will have money to buy meat and wine!"
The two secretaries were talking happily when the secretary of Guanyin Brigade also arrived. After exchanging greetings, the three of them saw that there were many people outside the yard, so they made an appointment to go to Secretary Xu's house for a drink.
The sky gradually darkened and the temperature dropped. The old man found a broken clay basin, lit some firewood and placed it in the yard for lighting.
Some villagers from Funiu Village could not wait and went home to eat, while villagers from Guanyin Brigade and Fangtian Brigade thought it was troublesome to walk back and forth, so they all waited in the yard for the weighing.
After it got dark, a little girl suddenly cried out in the courtyard, "Sister, what's wrong with you?"
"Wow~" another little boy burst into tears, "Big sister, big sister..."
Everyone gathered around, "What happened to Mina?"
"Mina! Xiu Na, why did your sister faint?" An auntie hurriedly picked her up, pinched her philtrum, and whispered, "Mina, wake up!"
Another person asked the little boy, "Xiaochuan, have you had lunch?"
"Wow..." The little girl wiped her clear snot with her sleeve while crying, "I ate three potatoes, wow... My sister said that if we sell the truffles, we will have money to buy food..."
Seeing this, Yang Chunyan hurriedly got up and scooped up some ginger soup and walked over. She saw that the three siblings were wearing patched clothes in the cold weather, and their old cotton shoes were also covered with patches.
The two younger ones had rotten dirt from the forest on their faces and hair, and they were shivering from the cold as they stood there.
Zhou's mother looked up and saw that she had already walked over with the porcelain jar and then squatted back to pick out the truffles.
The aunt shook her head. "What a sin! How can you survive a day's work by eating two potatoes?"
Su Tianfen saw Zhao Meina's eyelids move a few times, took her fingers away, and shouted: "Meina, wake up, Meina..."
Zhao Meina slowly opened her eyes and looked at her in a daze, "Aunt Su, what's wrong with me?"
Su Tianfen looked at her worriedly, "You fainted, why didn't you cook a few more potatoes when you went up the mountain to work?"
The two younger ones rushed to her, "Big sister, big sister..."
Zhao Meina reached out and let the two hold her hands, revealing a bitter smile that was inconsistent with her age, "I cooked more, but I didn't expect you to get hungry so quickly."
We have to plan how to grow the potatoes and sweet potatoes at home, otherwise the food will not last until the beginning of next spring.
Yang Chunyan stepped forward and handed over the ginger soup, "Come, drink some ginger soup to warm yourself up first!" She then said to the aunt, "Sister, help her sit by the stove to warm herself up."
"That's great!" The aunt helped Zhao Meina walk towards the stairs.
Two half-grown children followed her with frightened faces.
Seeing this, Yang Chunyan went to the main room and fetched three porcelain cups, scooped ginger soup from the pot, went back to the main room and scooped two spoons of brown sugar into the pot, and brought it to the three siblings, "Drink some ginger sugar water, auntie will get you something to eat."
"Thank you, auntie." Zhao Meina took it gratefully and said to her brother and sister-in-law who were holding the porcelain cup, "Drink slowly, it's hot!"
Zhao Xiuna nodded, "Sister, it is sweet."
Zhao Xiaochuan looked at her, "Sister, so sweet!"
The villagers of Guanyin Brigade began to discuss quietly, "What a sin! A teenage girl has to raise two children, and in the blink of an eye they have grown so big."
"The brigade distributed land to them, and Su Tianfen's family often helped them, otherwise they wouldn't even be able to pay the public grain."
"A child this young should be exempted from paying public taxes."
"The brigade secretary went to the grain station, but they disagreed."
Yang Chunyan had already guessed who they were. The old man of the siblings in their previous life had become successful and famous and came to look for his relatives. The fact that the siblings refused to recognize each other caused a sensation in the three villages.
The three siblings were all from Guanyin Brigade. The old man was an educated young man from Shanghai, and so was their mother. The couple broke up in order to return to the city, and gave money to the villagers to take care of the children. They sent money over in the first two years, but gradually there was no news of them.
The family that took care of the children waited for two months but didn't get paid, so they abandoned the children. The aunt next door felt sorry for the children and lent a hand to take care of them in her free time, and took the eldest sister to farm.
When she thought of this, she remembered the line from the TV series "The Debt of Sin", "Dad has one family, Mom has another family, and I am the only one left, and I seem to be redundant..."
Yang Chunyan handed the account book to Zhou Huaian, "Please write it down. I'll go heat up some food for the kids."
"Yeah!" Zhou Huaian looked at the children who were sipping the sugar water, "scoop some corn and sorghum and pick some sweet potatoes and potatoes for them."
"Great!" Yang Chunyan went to the backyard, beat three eggs and cooked egg soup. She took some rice out of the rice cooker and poured it into the egg soup. She cooked a pot of egg soup and rice, and then poured the pig intestines left over from lunch into the pot to heat them up.
Zhang Xiuxiang came out of the oven and asked, "Are you hungry?"
Yang Chunyan shook her head. "No, a few kids from Guanyin Brigade came to sell truffles, and the older kid fainted from hunger."
"I know, it's the family where the mother and husband abandoned the baby and ran away." Zhang Xiuxiang curled her lips, "There are cruel old men, but it's rare to see such a cruel mother."
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com