Zhou Huaian took his things to the backyard and saw that Zhou Huairong and the others' luggage had all been moved in. He would stay here tonight and would not go back until tomorrow when the goods were collected and packed into baskets.
Zhao Huifang pointed to the house on the right, "Youngest, that room is for you."
"Occasionally, I can stay overnight anywhere." Zhou Huaian put down the backpack and said, "Have you seen the bamboo basket?"
This place is too far away, so we didn't plan to pull bamboo baskets over at first, so we asked old man Lin Dazhuang and several old men in the village to weave them. Each bamboo basket cost seven or eight cents, and these old men could weave about ten baskets a day.
"I've seen it. It takes up an entire room. It's all woven with thick green bamboo strips. The lid is also very sturdy." Zhou Huairong said as he took out a bamboo basket, covered it with the lid and pressed it hard a few times, but the bamboo basket did not deform at all.
Zhou Huaian nodded repeatedly after reading it, "Not bad! The people here are very down-to-earth. These baskets are better than the ones we hired people to weave in the village."
Zhao Huifang took out a rattan box and said happily, "Look, youngest, they also prepared a rattan box for us to put our clothes in. I heard it's made of kudzu vines. I didn't expect it to be so pretty."
Zhou Huaian took it and looked at it, thinking it was pretty good. "I heard that in the old days, the fibers from the kudzu vines were used to weave kudzu cloth. Grandpa and the old man took back the kudzu vines we cut in the big pit last time to tie things."
Zhou Huairong smiled and said, "I remember that the mosquito nets my grandparents used to use were made of ramie cloth. They were thinner and cooler than the mosquito nets we have now, but not as soft as they are now."
At this time, Secretary Yang came in carrying a bamboo basket and said, "I'll give you some green vegetables, garlic sprouts, and radishes."
"Thank you, thank you!" Zhou Huairong took it with a smile, "Secretary Yang, come over tonight and have a drink with me?"
"Forget about it today. When you are settled, we will have a good drink together." Secretary Yang said with a smile, "There is a vegetable garden behind the house. It is cold here, so we can only grow these few vegetables. If you want to eat, just make them yourself."
"That's right! That's right!" Zhou Huairong responded repeatedly.
Zhao Huifang took out the vegetables from the basket, put the big piece of fat meat cut in the town and two bags of brown sugar in it, and handed it over with a smile, "Secretary Yang, we are sorry to trouble you."
Secretary Yang saw what was inside and retracted his outstretched hand. "Hey, you're too polite. It's almost as if we are bothering you."
Zhou Huaian took the basket and stuffed it into his hands, "Uncle Yang, our two families should stop being polite to each other!"
Secretary Yang took the basket with a smile and said, "I'm not polite, so don't be polite to me. I'll go back and ask your aunt to cook, and we can all eat together."
Zhou Huaian nodded readily, "Okay, let's eat together!"
Secretary Yang left happily, carrying the vegetable basket. Zhou Huaian picked up the backpack and went to the kitchen with Zhou Huairong.
The stove looked like it had been built not long ago, and the outside was painted with lime. There was a pile of firewood in front of the stove, and behind the stove there was an old bamboo cupboard, a large water tank and a rice can.
Zhou Huairong took a bag of rice, sorghum and corn chops, poured some of them into a jar, and tied the rest with a rope and hung it on the beam to prevent rats from chewing the sacks and stealing the food.
Zhou Huaian took out the bowls and chopsticks from the backpack and put them in the cupboard, followed by a small jar of oil-bottomed meat, lard, vegetable oil, various dried vegetables, and finally a jar of salted vegetables and a jar of pickled vegetables.
He pointed to two jars and said, "Brother, look, sister-in-law even brought jars of salted and pickled vegetables."
Zhou Huairong smiled and said, "There are pickled peppers and ginger in the pickle jar. When I'm busy, I can cook some rice and eat it with the pickled peppers and ginger."
"You better not be so frugal. I'll bring you some vegetables when I come to pick up the goods."
Zhou Huaian felt that his elder brother and sister-in-law had inherited their mother and husband's frugal nature. Even though they had bought a lot of food this year, they still were reluctant to eat white rice.
Especially after buying the land, they became more frugal. Sometimes he couldn’t understand why these two people could be so frugal?
Zhou Huairong hurriedly said, "Don't buy blindly. Just bring some vegetables from the vegetable garden when you come."
"I'll be very busy starting tomorrow, so you need to eat well so your body can withstand it." Zhou Huaian closed the cupboard, scooped some water to scrub the pot, and started to boil hot water to clean it.
After they finished cleaning up, the Yang family came to call them for dinner, and they had a big pot of boiled radish, a pot of pork cooked with garlic sprouts, and roasted venison.
Thinking about having to get up early the next morning to go into the mountains, everyone had a couple of drinks, ate, chatted for a while, then said goodbye and went back to rest.
When Zhao Huifang got up early in the morning, she found that the water in the porcelain basin was covered with a thick layer of frost. She rubbed her hands and hurried to the kitchen to light the fire and heat water for breakfast.
Zhou Huaian slept until dawn and woke up. Seeing Zhao Huifang and Zhou Huairong warming themselves by the fire in the kitchen, he smiled and said, "It's already past nine o'clock?"
"I have nothing to do in the morning. I want to sleep for a while after dinner." Zhao Huifang handed him the warm water bottle and said, "There is hot water in the bottle. Wash your face first."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian washed up, sat by the brazier and ate breakfast. "Today is our first day up the mountain. By the time they come down and load the goods, it might be three or four in the afternoon. It looks like I'll have to stay at my second brother's place tonight."
Zhou Huairong thought for a moment and said, "The road here is surrounded by cliffs on one side. Don't rush after dark. I think you should stay here until tomorrow morning."
"Look! If it's early in the afternoon, I'll leave in the afternoon. If it's late, I'll stay here overnight."
After Zhou Huaian finished speaking, he stood up and walked outside. He saw that none of the people who were squatting in the courtyard of the brigade to bask in the sun were gone. It seemed that they had all gone up the mountain to dig truffles.
He walked to a pile of earth, climbed up, and saw that the top of the mountain was already white. The higher mountains were covered with snow. A gust of snowy wind blew, and he shivered with cold. He quickly ran back to the yard with his hands folded.
Zhou Huairong tied several grades of bamboo sieves to a wooden frame that had been prepared long ago at home. When the time came, he poured the truffles into the bamboo sieves and screened them from the lowest to the best.
Just after the three of them had finished lunch, Secretary Yang and seven or eight other people came into the yard carrying truffles on their backs. "Youngest, it's time to get the goods!"
"Here it comes!" Zhou Huaian hurried forward to help take the basket he was carrying. Seeing that the basket was almost full, he said, "Your family has a good harvest today!"
Zhou Huairong and Zhao Huifang also helped the other people to put down the backpacks.
"This year should be a big year for truffles. Many families have produced a lot of big harvests." Secretary Yang said as he helped pour a small half of the truffles into the bamboo sieve. Many of the inferior truffles leaked into the bamboo basket below.
The "big year and small year" that country people talk about refer to some crops. Take fruit trees for example. The year with more production is called a "big year" and the year with less production is called a "small year".
Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "It's better in the New Year, when the production is high and there are more large goods, preferably all of them are top-grade goods. You can earn more, and the boss will be happy too."
Secretary Yang smiled and nodded, "Everyone is happy."
Zhao Huifang stepped forward, grasped the handle of the bamboo sieve, turned it a few times, and the last truffles gradually leaked out and fell into the bamboo basket.
Then pour the remaining truffles in the bamboo sieve into the bamboo sieve on the front shelf for screening the third-grade goods. Do this one by one, and several grades of goods will be screened out in a few minutes.
Secretary Yang praised after reading it: "This is a good method. In the past, we had to pick them one by one, which was very time-consuming."
Zhou Huaian said proudly: "So I told you in advance that the rotten truffles should be packed separately and sold at the same price."
"Don't worry, I've put all the rotten truffles in bags." Secretary Yang poured the rotten truffles in the burlap bag into the last-minute goods.
At this time, Zhao Huifang had already screened out all the truffles from Secretary Yang's house. The dozen or so truffles left in the bamboo sieve were all top-grade goods. One of them was as big as a rice bowl. After weighing, it weighed more than sixteen pounds, which means on average, each truffle weighed more than one pound.
Zhou Huairong put the bamboo basket on the scale to weigh it, and Zhao Huifang then screened the waiting villagers. More and more people were waiting in the yard, and some simply went to find firewood and built a fire in the yard to keep warm.
Zhou Huaian wrote down the account and happily picked up the special goods to take a look. "Uncle Yang, we found so many special goods right after the opening. It's a good start!"
"Wait a minute, you'll see. My eldest brother has a bigger one than this one." Secretary Yang was also very happy. The purchase price of this year's special-grade goods is two yuan per catty, so these ten yuan can be sold for thirty yuan.
A young man nearby said, "Brother Zhou, I also have two large pieces, which are a little smaller than the one in Secretary Yang's house."
Secretary Yang smiled and patted him, "Gangwazi, you are lucky! Work hard, and when the new house is completed next year, we can hold the wedding banquet."
"It's already been decided, it will be held in April next year!" Gangwazi was so happy that his teeth were not visible. "I will invite you to the wedding next year, and Brother Zhou will come too."
"That's right. I'll definitely come to the wedding next year!" Zhou Huaian smiled and handed the money to Secretary Yang. "It's a good start. We sold more than 80 on the first day. Everyone should work hard this year and strive to live in a brick house next year."
Secretary Yang took the money and said to everyone, "Did you hear me? Everyone save up and work hard. Next year, we will all start firing kilns and build brick and tile houses."
"Let's work hard! Let's burn kilns and build brick and tile houses..." Everyone in the yard shouted excitedly.
The three of them were busy from twelve o'clock until almost three o'clock. There were fewer people delivering goods, so Zhou Huaian and several villagers who helped moved the baskets of truffles to the tractor's bed.
Wooden baffles for raising the height have been installed on three sides of the truck bed. After the bamboo baskets in the truck bed are stacked, the last baffle is inserted and then fixed with cables. Even if the tractor drives onto a slope, there is no need to worry about the bamboo baskets in the truck bed tilting out.
Zhou Huairong looked at the time and said to him, "It's already past three o'clock. It will be dark in two hours at most. If you really want to leave, you'd better stay at Baicaoping tonight."
"I understand. Go in and help your sister-in-law." Zhou Huaian said as he picked up the crank to start the tractor, waved at him, and drove the tractor out of the village.
He hung it up in the village, and at around 2 o'clock some villagers would come down the mountain to deliver the goods. Now that there is a competitor, I wonder if there will be many people who will deliver the goods to his home?
And Brother San, what is the truffle production at Sancha Road? (End of this chapter)
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