Chapter 480 Chapter 481: I am so tired but happy
It was already past three o'clock when Zhou Huaian and his party returned to Funiu.
Zhou Jiakang and his friends who were playing outside saw the tractor arrive at the grove and ran back, "Aunt, Dad is back, my mom is back."
After hearing this, Yang Chunyan and Li Qiuyue hurriedly put the straw mat in the cowshed, and asked Jiang Yu and several others to move the baskets and bamboo baskets in the backyard to make it easier for the tractor to enter the yard.
The tractor drove in quickly and Zhou Huairong slowly backed into the backyard. Everyone exclaimed in amazement when they saw several large bamboo baskets filled to the brim.
"Oh my god! We've only been there for half a day and you've collected so much?"
Zhang Xiuxiang smiled and said, "Everyone is waiting there before we get there. There are only a few people from the two teams. If there were more, we would probably have to run two trips to pull all the goods."
Jiang Yu: "There are quite a few here."
Zhao Huifang smiled as she took off her scarf and hat. "I heard from the youngest that it weighed several thousand kilograms! It was so heavy that even the tractor couldn't pull it up the hill. We got off to help push it and then climbed up the hill."
Zhou Huaishan smiled and walked forward to open the truck bed, "Hurry up and unload it. Now we have enough people to wash a batch of them."
"That's right!" Jiang Yu and his friends picked up the dustpan and climbed onto the tractor, looking at the tall bamboo basket. "Oh my god, how can we reach it from such a high place?"
"Climb up the truck and dig."
"There's a ladder here!" Zhou Huairong brought over the short ladder hanging outside. "I'll install it, you guys carry it down."
"Oh!" Jiang Yu hurriedly handed him the dustpan.
Yang Chunyan looked around and didn't see Zhou Huaian. Just as she was about to ask Zhou Huaijun, she saw him slowly walking in.
The tractor made their buttocks hurt, so when they arrived at Zhou Yiding's house, he got off and went home to apply medicine. Zhou Huaian couldn't stand sitting in the grove anymore, so he got off and walked back.
Yang Chunyan noticed that his walking posture was a little wrong and his face was blackened by the black smoke from the tractor. "What's wrong? Is your skin broken again?"
Zhou Huaian made a bitter face, "Well! The road condition is too bad. It's like sitting on springs when going up and down. I don't even know where the cushion has fallen."
"I'll get you some hot water. After you take a shower in the bathroom, I'll rub some badger lard on you." Yang Chunyan said as she went to scoop up some hot water.
Zhou Huaian hurriedly pulled her back and said, "I can just exchange it myself and carry it over."
Yang Chunyan nodded, "Then I'll go get you some badger lard, iodine, and cotton swabs."
The old man also said after seeing this: "The youngest one suffered this time, but the eldest and second oldest still can't open it?"
"Yes, we don't have good skills, and we don't dare to go on the road because the mountain road is too narrow." Zhou Huaijun said, looking at Zhou Huaishan, "You go to drive the tractor the day after tomorrow, so that the youngest one won't get his skin rubbed again."
Zhou Huaishan nodded, "The road over there is very bad, riding a bicycle is very bumpy."
Jiang Yu and his friends poured a few scoops of truffles into a basin and handed the scoops to Zhou Huaishan and his brothers.
They sat down on small stools and began to scrub. Since they started, several soft-bristled brushes have been broken.
Zhou Huaian thought the soft-bristle brushes sold in the department store were too expensive, so he went to a grocery store and ordered dozens of them. He got a discount of 20 cents per brush, saving about ten yuan.
Zhao Huifang took out the white truffles in the corner and said, "Chunyan, look, there are white truffles over there. How come we have never seen them before?"
"I haven't seen it either. After drying, send Ning An to Doctor Xiao Wang and send him to the provincial capital for the boss to have a look."
After saying that, Yang Chunyan picked up the big piece, weighed it, and found that it weighed at least one pound and seven or eight ounces. There were five or six pieces of this size in the basket, and the rest were bigger than goose eggs.
She remembered that in her previous life, she heard Jiaming say that someone in Yun Province dug up a piece of white truffle weighing more than one kilogram and sold it for tens of thousands of yuan, which was several times more expensive than black truffles.
He also said that because everyone was holding the idea of whoever found it first would dig it up and sell it, they dug the truffles prematurely after November, regardless of the fact that the true ripening period of truffles was after November.
There are even some people who, once they find a place with truffles, will dig up all the surrounding area, regardless of their size or maturity, even cutting off the roots of the trees.
Once the tree roots are dug up, all the bacterial cells on the roots will die, seriously affecting the reproduction of truffles. This "predatory" mining has also led to a rapid decline in truffle production, from more than 100 tons per year to dozens of tons per year.
"Sister-in-law, when you collect truffles, remember to tell everyone not to dig without leaving any way out, otherwise we will be scolded by our descendants in the future."
After hearing this, Zhao Huifang said, "Secretary Zhang and Secretary Lin both said they have told everyone about it. We will go there the day after tomorrow and talk to them about it."
"Um!"
By the time Yang Chunyan poured the drained truffles into the bamboo basket, the old man had already started the oven.
The quantity of today's special goods is a bit large, so we have to fire up both ovens. The baking time in the oven is short, so we can still produce a lot of goods by the evening.
Zhang Xiuxiang and Luo Haili picked truffles of almost the same size and put them on a baking tray. When the oven temperature reached the right level, they put them in to bake.
Zhou Huaian came out of the bathroom in his slippers and pulled Yang Chunyan, "You guys do it first, I'll go apply some medicine and come back."
Zhou Huairong waved his hand, "Hurry up!"
As soon as the two of them left, Zhou Yiding came over and said, "Sister-in-law, remember to make that mat for us!"
Zhao Huifang nodded readily, "Okay! I'll make it for you when I get home from work tonight."
"Thank you very much!" Zhou Yiding looked at the truffles in the bamboo basket, picked it up and walked towards the oven.
After Yang Chunyan and the others returned to the house, Zhou Huaian took out the shoulder bag from the closet. "This time, the special class weighs nearly a thousand pounds. The weight difference between the first and second class is only a little over a hundred pounds. The third class is even less than the second class, and the last class is not much either, less than a thousand pounds."
"I haven't used up all the money I brought!"
"Well! There are less than 2,000 left." Zhou Huaian lay on the bed, "Those people have been waiting in the drying dam for a long time. Everyone is a little uneasy, and most of them did not go to dig truffles at home. Secretary Zhang and I told them that we will go to collect them the day after tomorrow."
"It's better to go there the next day. My tailbone is so red. I think I should let my third brother drive the tractor to Ning'an tomorrow."
"Third brother is at home helping to kill the pigs, Yiding will go with us." Zhou Huaian turned his head and smiled, "Sister-in-law said that if we tie a thicker cushion made of cotton wool to our body, we won't have to worry about the cushion running away."
Yang Chunyan thought about it and said, "Oh! Why didn't I think of that?"
Zhou Huaian looked at her with a smile, "You have become stupid!"
Yang Chunyan patted him and said, "You are so smart!"
Zhou Huaian nodded proudly, "That's it!"
"Okay, be careful to put on your pants, and let's go out and put away the truffles in the new oven."
"That's right!"
When the two came out of the room, the old man was already collecting truffles in the oven, "Is the injury serious?"
"It's okay!" Zhou Huaian picked up the bamboo stick, "Did the old man go to the town to repair the house?"
The old man nodded. "Yes! We rebuilt the collapsed wall yesterday and started to clean up the yard and roof. The well has not been used for a long time and is full of garbage. We need someone to clean it out."
"Huaian, I originally planned to let Sister Yumei open a small store. Now that we have bought a house next to the school, we can open the store when Xiaoxi grows up!"
"You don't have to wait that long. My sister can open a small shop with Sister Haili. In the summer, we can sell ice water, ice jelly, and ice cream."
"Yes! Please ask Dr. Wang to help buy a freezer so that we can enjoy the ice water and ice jelly after freezing them!"
Zhou Huaian thought for a moment, "In the summer, we sell ice jelly, but what should we sell when the weather gets cold?"
Yang Chunyan recalled the deep-fried food in her previous life. “In the winter, we kept it simple. We set up a stove in the store and sold fried potatoes and stinky tofu!”
After hearing this, Zhou Huaian remembered what she fried last time, "Fried potatoes and fried stinky tofu are both delicious. When mom comes later, ask her to soak some beans and make two plates of stinky tofu. We will fry them and eat them during the New Year."
After hearing this, the old man laughed and said, "Who doesn't want to eat chicken, duck, fish and meat during the Chinese New Year? Who wants to eat stinky tofu?"
Zhou Huaian looked at him with a smile, "Grandpa, you didn't come when I asked you to come over to eat fried stinky tofu last time. Wait until Mom has made it. I'll fry some for you to try during the New Year. It tastes really good!"
"It would be strange if it doesn't taste good if it's soaked in so much oil!" The old man smiled, picked up the bamboo basket and walked out.
Zhou Huaian looked around and saw that the first-class goods against the wall were not yet dry. "Yan'er, the ones collected this afternoon can only be sent to the drying room tomorrow!"
"Hmm! I see that this batch of goods is quite evenly distributed. No wonder Third Sister-in-law said that they have more truffles over there."
"I heard from Secretary Zhang that they sometimes go into the mountains to dig herbs to sell, but they don't recognize many. Ding Dingmao and I plan to go to the forest for a walk before the New Year to take a look."
"Forget it! There's still snow on the mountain over there these days. It will be troublesome if we run into a bear."
"Secretary Zhang said that his second son often walks in the mountains, so he will accompany us when the time comes."
Yang Chunyan was still worried, "Is it okay not to go?"
"Don't worry, we won't go to the old forest. We'll just take a look down there. I heard they have a mulberry forest there. I want to go and see if there's any Coriolus versicolor. And by the way, we can look for some Ganoderma lucidum."
Yang Chunyan glanced at him and said, "Even if there is one, you wouldn't be able to recognize it!"
"Hehe! You look down on me!" Zhou Huaian looked at her smugly, "I asked Doctor Xiao Wang to show me the Coriolus versicolor he collected, and I also asked him what kind of mulberry trees are easy to find Coriolus versicolor."
Yang Chunyan thought that he had become much more stable in the past six months, "Well, if you really want to go, you must be careful."
Zhou Huaian nodded heavily, "Don't worry!"
After a while, Zhou Jiaming ran in and shouted, "Aunt, someone brought truffles."
Zhao Huifang pointed at the straw mats and said, "You guys help carry the straw mats out and lay them out. We will follow soon."
"Oh!" Zhou Jiakang and Zhou Xiaoqian picked up the straw mat and left. Zhou Jialiang and others helped to carry the basket outside.
The group had been busy going in and out since they came back in the afternoon, spinning around like a clockwork top.
As five o'clock approached, more and more villagers came to sell truffles.
Yang Chunyan and a few others went out to receive the goods, while Zhou Huaian and a few others stayed in the backyard to look after the oven and deliver the truffles to the baking room.
More than a dozen people were busy until Zhou's mother finished cooking dinner. Then they stopped to sit for a while, and after dinner they started working again.
By the time the washed truffles filled both baking rooms and the two ovens had dried three or four hundred kilograms of special goods, it was already past eleven o'clock, and everyone packed up and went back to rest.
Zhao Huifang pounded her aching lower back and said, "I'm exhausted every day, how can I still be so happy?"
Li Qiuyue smiled and said, "I'm happy to make money!"
(End of this chapter)
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