"Tsk~" Zhou Huaian rubbed his head, "How dare you doubt your father's credibility, son of a bitch! Didn't I help you get your navy uniform?"
After the brothers divided the money from selling red mushrooms, they not only made beautiful clothes and skirts for the children, but the three older brothers also asked Wang Zhen for help and brought back a watch for the old man.
"I believe it. I absolutely believe it." Zhou Jialiang smiled ingratiatingly and wiped the head he had rubbed. "Don't worry, I promise I won't tire Aunt Yao out."
Zhou Huaian nodded with satisfaction, "Yes! Remember to turn over the herbs in the backyard." Although he is young, he is quite efficient as long as he doesn't get lazy.
Zhou Jiaming stood at attention and saluted, "Yes!"
"Good! Do a good job!" Zhou Huaian patted his shoulder, "When you officially put on the military uniform, I will give you something you like, whatever you choose."
After hearing this, Zhou Jiaming grinned and laughed, "There are many things I like. I want to choose one carefully."
Zhou Huaian felt like he had lost all hope and said, "Take your time to choose. There are still several years before you turn 18 and sign up to join the army!" What he didn't say was that with your current grades, you might not even be selected.
Zhou Jiaming was full of confidence. After he left, he took the wooden rake leaning against the wall, which was somewhat similar to his second brother's rake, and started raking the millet.
While working on it, I was struggling with what I should ask him to buy that thing that I wanted but didn't dare to ask for.
The millet that has just been harvested is very moist and requires a lot of force to push it away.
He worked hard to push the millet on the drying mat and spread it flat. Then he used a straw rake to rake the straw to the edge of the drying mat, shook out the millet inside and threw it on the eaves to dry.
By the time Yang Chunyan finished drying the herbs and went to the front yard, he had already dried the millet.
From then on, every time Zhou Huaian delivered millet home, Zhou Jiaming would rush to do it.
"Aunt Yao, go listen to the radio. I'll take care of the millet."
"There's no reason for Aunt Yao to sit and listen to the radio. Don't listen to your father."
Yang Chunyan didn't know whether to laugh or cry when she saw the little guy who was fooled by Zhou Huaian's blank check.
Only after she promised not to tell Zhou Huaian did he let her help dry the millet.
In fact, drying millet at home is also a tiring job. Under the scorching sun, you have to turn the millet over from time to time, rake the millet and pile it into ridges, exposing the drying mats that have been soaked by the moisture in the millet to dry.
There are many strong laborers in the family and the millet can be threshed quickly. In just one morning, the drying mat in the yard is full of millet.
Yang Chunyan thought that Zhou Huaian and the others had gone to work early in the morning, so she started cooking at half past ten.
Thinking that eating porridge while working would not satisfy her hunger, she peeled some taro, stir-fried it with lard, and cooked a pot of taro rice.
Braised pork belly, stir-fried cowpea, tiger skin chili pepper, sauerkraut and sweet potato noodle soup; and the miscellaneous fish that Zhou Huaian caught with a trap while sifting the sand, which he cleaned and fried in oil until browned, then cooked with chopped pickled peppers, kimchi and coriander to make sauerkraut fish.
After lunch, everyone rested for a while and then went back to work.
Yang Chunyan and Zhou Jiaming gathered the dried millet on three drying mats, leaving a few mats empty to dry the millet picked in the afternoon.
In the afternoon, the people working in the rice fields worked until the moon was looming in the clouds and the stars were flickering in the sky. Then they packed up their tools and went home.
The mixing bucket can be placed in the field. There is no need to carry it in and out. It can be found everywhere in the field, so there is no need to worry about someone stealing it.
Zhou Huaian was walking along the field path carrying a load of grain. An evening breeze blew through the bushes on the roadside, and the rustling sound was accompanied by the hysterical chirping of cicadas.
In the house below the ridge, smoke was rising from the chimney on the roof, and from time to time the sound of a dog barking could be heard.
He deliberately walked around the door of Yiding's house and saw that the gate was open and Zhou Xiaomei was cleaning the yard. "Xiaomei, is Yiding back?"
"He's out pulling wood. He'll be back soon."
"Okay, I'll come back after I eat."
When he got home, Yang Chunyan had already piled the millet on the eaves and prepared the meal. Seeing them coming back from work, she was busy setting the table.
Zhao Huifang came forward to help and saw the mixed grain rice in the steamer. "Chunyan, wait until the millet is dried, and we will have new rice to eat."
"Yes!" Yang Chunyan said with a smile, "I heard my husband and mother discussing that now that the family is well-off, they should send more sweet potatoes and corn to pay the public tax and save more millet for their own consumption."
"Alas!" Li Qiuyue sighed, "After the millet is harvested, we can only go up the mountain to pick mushrooms for a few days before we have to harvest corn and sorghum. By the time we are done, the mushrooms will be gone."
Yang Chunyan thought that what Wang Zhen said about collecting truffles had not been finalized yet, so she kept silent.
Zhou's mother thought that one pound of mushrooms could buy several pounds of grain, so she felt that it was not worth it. "The millet in a few acres of land can be harvested in three days at most. When the time comes, let Huairong and his friends harvest sorghum and corn at home, and you can go into the mountains to pick mushrooms."
“Yes.”
After dinner, it was already dark. Zhou Huaian took out a flashlight and said to Yang Chunyan, "Let's go to Yiding's house and take a look."
When the two men arrived at Zhou Yiding's house, they saw a four-wheel tractor parked at the door, loaded with some wood.
Yang Chunyan shone a flashlight and saw a dozen agarwood sticks inside. She turned her head and looked at Zhou Huaian, "Uncle Daqing is so fast!"
"You are here!" Before he finished speaking, Zhou Yiding and Zhou Xiaomei walked out.
Zhou Huaian nodded, "We're starting to harvest rice today, and we saw that there's no one in your rice field, so we came to take a look."
"The wood has been obtained. My family also got two pieces. If it weren't for the purpose of transporting these pieces of wood down the mountain, I would have returned last night."
"Uncle Daqing is pretty quick!"
"This thing is not rare at all now. As long as you can get the quota, you can buy as much as you want." Zhou Yiding said with a smile, "Get to work quickly when you get here. The master has to go back to the forest farm after dinner."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian and he lifted the wood and walked into the yard.
Zhou Xiaomei said to Yang Chunyan: "Sister-in-law, come in and sit for a while."
"Okay!" The two entered the yard. Yang Chunyan saw a lot of branches as thick as arms piled in the yard, as well as several chopping boards and large tree stumps. There was also a middle-aged man eating noodles in the main room.
"Uncle Daqing hasn't come back yet?"
"I'm watching from the mountain!" Zhou Xiaomei whispered, "There have been quite a lot of people entering the mountain to steal wood recently. These woods were also cut down by those people and confiscated after they were caught."
"Are they the same people from a few days ago?"
"I don't know. My husband didn't tell me." Zhou Xiaomei brought her a bamboo chair. "Sister-in-law, my brother said he wanted to grow herbs with you. Is that true?"
"It's true!" Yang Chunyan nodded. "Have you visited that mountain area?"
"No, my brother told me that it is separated from the land leased by Brother Huairong by a ditch."
"Yes, it used to belong to Uncle Datian's family, and the whole area from this side to the river belongs to my family. We just happen to be connected."
"That's good!"
"What grade is your younger sister in this year?"
"When I started the third year of junior high school, my husband told me to try my best to get into high school so that I could be supported by the government in the future."
"Uncle is right. Try to pass the exam. Then you won't have to work in the fields to make a living."
"Yeah!" Zhou Xiaomei glanced at the main room, "I'll pour some hot water for Uncle Yan."
"You go, I'll help them with the flashlight." (End of this chapter)
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