The three of them closed the gate and went to the street together. Zhou Huaian looked at Dr. Wang in the clinic and asked, "Why didn't I see Dongmei today?"
Wang Zhen smiled and said, "My eldest brother came to deliver the goods yesterday and said that the family has started harvesting the millet. Xiaomei has also gone back to help with the autumn harvest. I will also go there in the afternoon."
Zhou Huaian looked at his hands and asked, "Can you harvest grain?"
Wang Zhen shook his head honestly, "No, I'll learn and apply it when I get there!"
Zhou Huaian gave him a thumbs up, "Good brother-in-law, you deserve praise!"
Zhou Yiding hugged Zhou Huaian and said, "Youngest brother, look, Doctor Wang is going over to help with the work, and you, the old son-in-law, why don't you run faster and show your skills!"
Wang Zhen smiled and joked, "That's right, I'm going, so it would be inappropriate for you not to go?"
"I tell you, when I was a new son-in-law, I was so pitiful. My father-in-law and mother-in-law were better, but my eldest brother-in-law looked at me as if I were a thief. I was almost like a dog with its tail between its legs in front of him."
Zhou Huaian thought back to the time when he and Yang Chunyan were looking for a partner, and was glad that he was thick-skinned enough, otherwise he would have been scared out by Yang Weiguo and Yang Dongmei.
Wang Zhen honestly stabbed, "Brother-in-law is very nice! He is always polite every time I visit him."
Zhou Huaian: "..." How can it be the same? You are a college student and a great doctor, and I was just a lazy guy and a second-rate person... I don't want to think about it anymore. I feel embarrassed just thinking about it.
Zhou Yiding slapped him in the face, "Who said you didn't learn your lesson back then? People in the village all said behind your back that my sister-in-law was blind to marry you."
Zhou Huaian looked at the two with resentment on his face, "You're exposing my scars again! Are you two still my good buddies?"
"Hahaha……"
After they came out of the bank, Zhou Huaian went to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought a dozen soft-bristle brushes and some needles and thread. The two of them were going to visit his mother-in-law, so he went to the vegetable market to buy some meat and cakes for his mother-in-law. He also bought some and asked Wang Zhen to take them to Yangjiapingzi.
The three of them returned to Desheng Hall. Zhou Huaian smiled and said to Wang Zhen, "We are going back now. Will you come with us?"
Wang Zhen smiled and shook his head. "The driver who came from the provincial capital to pick up the goods is still staying in our hotel. I have to wait for him to load the goods onto the truck before I can leave."
Zhou Huaian slapped his head and said, "If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten that we also have a hotel. How is the business these days?"
"The situation wasn't very good in the past few days. The rooms we booked were only enough to cover the hotel's expenses. Yesterday was a little better. We booked most of the rooms. Overall, the three of us earn an average of more than 100 yuan a month."
Zhou Yiding said with satisfaction: "More than 100 yuan is equivalent to several months' salary of a private teacher in the village."
"That's right. This is a long-term business. An income of more than 100 yuan a month is already very good."
Zhou Huaian thought that the business had only been open for two months and the monthly income was over 100 yuan. Once more people knew about it and the business got better, the monthly income would be more than 100 yuan.
The house has just been built and will be used for at least several decades. There will be a steady flow of money coming in, which is really incalculable.
Wang Zhen smiled and said, "As long as you are satisfied."
"Of course I am satisfied!" Zhou Huaian said, thinking of the mango grafting. "Last year, you gave us mangoes. Grandpa buried the pits and more than a dozen of them grew out. How do we graft them?"
Wang Zhen shook his head. "I don't know about this either. I'll ask for you next time."
"Okay, then we'll go first!"
"Okay!" Wang Zhen waved his hand, watched the two people ride away on their bicycles, then turned and walked into the clinic.
When Zhou Huaian and his companion were halfway there, Qu Qiulin also led the mule team into the village. Seeing that the rice at the foot of the mountain had been harvested, they thought of selling the mountain products and going to the grain station in town to buy some old grain to bring back.
Ah Shan, who was traveling with us, said, "Look, they have already harvested their millet, but we haven't even started harvesting yet!"
Another person looked at the rice fields with envy, "The fields at the foot of the mountain are better, they are connected and it is much easier to harvest."
Ah Shan curled his lips and said, "What's so good about this place? Go take a look near the town, the fields there are much better, a large flat piece, not like ours, where there are piles of fields here and there, and you have to climb up the hill!"
"Ashan, you like the town so much, why don't you ask your mom and dad to find a son-in-law for you in the town who doesn't have a son?"
"Go away~" Ah Shan sneered and rolled his eyes at him, "I'd rather be a bachelor than be a live-in son-in-law."
Qu Qiulin laughed and said, "Look at yourself, you are as black as a piece of coal, and the girls in the town don't even like you!"
"I don't think she'll fall in love with me." Ah Shan turned back with a smile, "Brother Qiulin, why don't you find someone in town?"
"I don't think it's any use unless someone likes it!" Qu Qiulin said as he pulled the reins and said to him, "We're here, unload the stuff first and tie the mule to the forest over there."
"good!"
As soon as the few people unloaded the two bamboo baskets, Lai Fu rushed to the door, blocked it and barked. He didn't look like he wanted to bite them, but more like he wanted to alert his owner that someone was coming.
A Shan said curiously, "Brother Qiulin, why is this dog different from other dogs? You see, we have been here several times, and as long as its owner doesn't come out, it will block the door and bark, not letting us in."
Qu Qiulin: "This is a mountain dog, different from ordinary local dogs. Even though it's just blocking the way and barking, if you dare to force your way into the house, it will immediately pounce on you and bite you!"
"Laifu, get down!" Yang Chunyan hurried out from the backyard holding Xiao Jiuer, and smiled at Qu Qiulin and the others, "Come in quickly."
"Okay!" Qu Qiulin picked up the wicker basket and walked into the yard. He saw the yard was full of millet drying in the sun. "Sister-in-law, is the harvest good this year?"
"It's better than last year. How about you?" Yang Chunyan handed the child to Zhou's mother and helped him put down the wicker basket.
"We don't have many rice fields, and most of them are corn, sorghum, and potatoes." Qu Qiulin took down the branches covering the rattan basket, "This basket is filled with first-class red mushrooms. This time, we also found some spring grass, polygonatum, morels, and shiitake mushrooms."
At this time, Ashan and his men came in carrying rattan baskets, and the old man also came out carrying a bamboo basket. "Guilan, I'll take Jiuer to the backyard, and you help Chunyan sort the red mushrooms."
"Hmm!" Mother Zhou handed the child to him, "Old man, there are corn cakes in the steamer and cowpea porridge in the jar. Pick some out for Village Chief Qu and the others to eat."
The old man nodded and walked towards the kitchen.
Qu Qiulin and his two companions brought ten mules down the mountain. They filled twenty wicker baskets with mushrooms, including seven first-grade red mushrooms, eight second-grade mushrooms, and the remaining baskets were filled with rejuvenating grass.
The old man carried Xiao Jiuer on his back and brought out all the food, "Village Chief Qu, I knew you were coming, so I saved some for you. Don't be polite!"
"Thank you, old man!" Qu Qiulin took out a large bundle of tobacco leaves from the bamboo basket. "This is grown by us. It's very strong."
"Thank you! Thank you!" The old man took the tobacco leaves with a smile, "You sit down and eat, and they will weigh them after they have sorted them."
"Hey!" Qu Qiulin invited Ashan and the other man to sit down and start eating. There were salted vegetables fried with green peppers, and pickled radish mixed with cooked oil peppers. They were refreshing and went well with rice.
The three of them started walking before dawn and ate a few cold potatoes on the way. After eating the warm cowpea porridge, their stomachs felt better immediately.
Yang Chunyan and Zhou's mother sat on straw benches, sorting the mushrooms quickly with their hands. Although the red mushrooms sent by Qu Qiulin and others had also been selected, it took them more than an hour to finish sorting them all.
The red mushrooms that were picked out were all damaged during transportation, weighing about three or four pounds in total.
The quality of morels is quite good. The retail price in the county is 5 or 6 yuan per catty, and the purchase price is 4.5 yuan. The retail price of shiitake mushrooms is only 4.5 cents per catty.
Mother Zhou put the bamboo basket on the scale. "Chunyan, first-class goods are 52 jins and 6 liangs, 53 jins... second-class goods are 50 jins... Huichuncao 85 jins, Morchella 56 jins, Polygonatum 155 jins..."
Yang Chunyan took a pen and wrote down everything. After calculating the bill, she went into the house to get the money to pay the bill. Qu Qiulin and the other two helped Zhou's mother and father move the bamboo baskets to the backyard.
Jiang Yu and others were still cleaning the red mushrooms sent by Uncle Chen's village. When Qu Qiulin and his friends arrived, she and Zhou's mother were drying bamboo fungi upstairs.
After the busy farming season, everyone rushed up the mountain to pick mushrooms to sell at daybreak. Villagers from Uncle Chen's village and the construction team brought mushrooms at around nine o'clock.
In just one morning, we harvested more than a thousand kilograms of red mushrooms, more than a hundred kilograms of shiitake mushrooms and black fungus, as well as dozens of kilograms of morels and more than ten kilograms of bamboo fungus.
It only takes a few hours for bamboo fungus to grow from breaking through the soil to maturity. The bamboo fungus picked when its fungus colony is fully expanded is the most delicious. However, the shelf life of fresh bamboo fungus is very short. At room temperature, it will generally start to rot within twelve hours.
After receiving the bamboo fungi, she took Jiang Yu and others to clean them, put them in an oven to dry out the moisture, and then took them upstairs to dry in the sun for a day. They then put them in oilcloth bags and sealed them.
Qu Qiulin and the other two helped move all the bamboo baskets into the backyard before saying goodbye. Yang Chunyan sent them out of the yard and saw Zhou Huaian riding a bicycle to the door of Xu Erchun's house.
"Secretary Qu, Huai'an is back. Do you want to play for a while?"
"No, I'm going to go over and talk to him. I also need to go to the town to buy some food."
"Okay, then take your time!"
Zhou Huaian saw Qu Qiulin walking towards him with his mule, and pedaled a few times quickly before stopping beside him. "It's still early, let's have lunch at my house before we go!"
"I ate it when I got to your house." Qu Qiulin took the cigarette he handed over and asked, "When will you pay the public grain tax?"
"No notification yet!" Zhou Huaian exhaled a puff of cigarette, "Are you planning to go to the grain station to buy old grain?"
Qu Qiulin nodded and said, "The millet we grow every year is only enough to pay the public grain tax. We have to buy some grain to go back and eat with the miscellaneous grains."
"It's the same with my family. Last year, we paid the public grain tax and bought some coarse grains to make up for the food. We need to buy more this year."
"I'm going to dig some Polygonatum this time and send it to you. I'm going to go into the mountains to dig some more after the autumn harvest. We've found a few of the Bletilla striata you mentioned last time. Do you still want it?"
"Yes, just dig it up and send it to me."
Qu Qiulin nodded and said, "We can dig up Chonglou if we wait a little longer. What's the price this year?"
"The price is not as good as last year. If it is not too long ago, you can wait and dig again."
"Okay, we'll go first then."
"Hmm!" Zhou Huaian took out another cigarette and passed it around, sending the three people away. (End of this chapter)
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