Chapter 586 587: The More You Have, the More You Want
The more I have, the more stingy I think...
Fang's cousin stared at her blankly for a moment before she reacted. She looked at the money in her hand and counted out 7.6 yuan to her as if she was cutting her flesh. "Thank you for your help, cousin."
Yang Chunyan smiled and shook her head, "Cousin, yours are rotten too, how about you bring back a pair?"
"No, no!" Fang's cousin's wife quickly put the remaining money in her pocket, "I can go home and get two pieces of cloth to mend it and wear it again."
"Okay, come and pick up the shoes tomorrow at noon!" Yang Chunyan said, then sat down and counted money for another villager.
Cousin Fang's wife picked up the backpack, glanced at Fang Zhao's sisters, and walked straight towards the gate.
Qian Chunhua and Lin Xiaofang also came, "Xiaofang, go back and look after the child first, I'll go help Guilan!"
Lin Xiaofang put down the backpack and said, "Okay! I'll go back and prepare the meal!"
Qian Chunhua whispered, "Steam a few eggs, and take out a piece of bacon and stir-fry it with mushrooms. Don't be reluctant, okay?"
"I understand!" Lin Xiaofang smiled at Yang Chunyan and walked towards the courtyard gate.
Qian Chunhua walked to Zhou's mother with a smile on her face and squatted down to help. "You guys are going to be busy today. I think everyone in the village has gone up the mountain, except for those who can't climb the mountain."
"I see, there are people everywhere in the forest!" Zhou's mother asked cheerfully, "How did you harvest today?"
"Hehe!" Qian Chunhua laughed so hard that her teeth were showing. "The backpack and the basket are full. I don't know what grade it will get."
Mother Zhou glanced at their baskets with a smile and said, "You have a very good eye. I guarantee they are all good stuff!"
"Hey!" Qian Chunhua put the red mushrooms into the bamboo basket according to her selection, "My Hongbing hasn't come back yet?"
"Look, the mushroom sellers are here. We hurried but still couldn't make it in time!" Speak of the devil, and he appeared. Zhou Huaian's voice was heard at the door.
When Yang Chunyan and Zhou's mother heard his voice, they looked up and saw him and Li Wu carrying a wild boar. Two dogs had smiling faces and were wagging their tails while circling around his feet.
"Look at Zhou Laoya, he picked so many mushrooms and even brought back a big fat pig." The villagers who were selling red mushrooms in the yard said enviously.
Qian Chunhua smiled and said, "Look, your youngest has caught another wild boar!"
Zhou's mother couldn't stop laughing. "Hong Bing and Li Wu went with him. Maybe the three of them got it together."
Before he finished speaking, Xu Hongbing came in with a backpack on his back. Seeing the villagers in the yard, he exclaimed, "Oh my god! It's only what time? So many people have come!"
A villager asked: "Hongbing, where did you kill the wild boar?"
"The youngest one beat me!" Xu Hongbing said with a smile, "He even knocked over a bear with one punch!"
"You've blown it up to the sky."
"Red Soldier, where is the overturned bear?"
"He was still slumped on the ground when we left!"
"Tsk! You're just bragging without thinking!"
"Oh! If you don't believe me, forget it!" Xu Hongbing proudly put his basket on the steps. Qian Chunhua glared at him and said, "What are you doing standing there? Help me move the mushrooms in the bamboo basket to the backyard and spread them!"
"Okay!" Xu Hongbing stepped forward, picked up a basket of red mushrooms and went to the backyard.
In the backyard, the old man had already lit the stove. Father Zhou and the Zhou Huairong brothers who had rushed back were teaching Aunt Jiang and the others how to pick red mushrooms.
I told them to handle the mushrooms with care, and to gently clean the caps and stems with a small brush. Then they should place the mushrooms one by one in a large bamboo sieve to drain the water. When the temperature in the drying room rises, they can be sent in for drying.
Zhou Huaian and Li Wu put down the wild boar and saw the cowshed was full of coal. "Old man, why did Third Brother bring back so much coal?"
Zhou's father: "The price has gone up, and it's going to go up further. He said he would buy more and store it to burn slowly."
Zhou Huaishan ran back and forth several times. The coal he brought back filled up the coal storage room here, and he then hauled some more to the next room. He hasn't returned yet.
"Yes!" Zhou Huaian walked to Zhou Huairong, squatted down and said, "Brother, there is boiling water in the pot. You and Brother Li should take out the wild boar and cut off its two legs. One leg will be given to him and the other leg will be given to Hong Bing."
"Okay!" Zhou Huairong wiped his hands, got up and went to the kitchen to get a knife.
By the time the red mushrooms from Li Wu and Xu Hongbing were received, Zhou Huairong and he had already killed and skinned the wild boar and cut off the meat from its legs.
Zhou's mother also came to the backyard to prepare meals, and took the pig offal to the ditch outside to clean it.
Zhou Huaian gave the wild boar leg to the two people and said, "I'll share it with you after I sell the black ginseng."
"Great, great!" Li Wu and Xu Hongbing's family of three happily picked up the pork leg and said goodbye and went back.
Xu Hongbing said cheerfully: "It's easy to follow the youngest brother. You can earn money and eat game."
Qian Chunhua happily told him and Li Wu, "You two must help the youngest one. There are many people in the village who want to follow him."
Xu Hongbing nodded, "Mom, let me tell you..." He whispered to her about how Zhou Huaian knocked down Xiong Laoya with one punch in the afternoon.
Qian Chunhua looked at the two of them in surprise, "I didn't expect the youngest one to be so amazing!"
Xu Hongbing said with relief: "Didn't you see that after being knocked down by the youngest brother with one punch, the youngest brother just laid on the ground and pretended to be dead? I wonder if he will dare to act arrogantly again in the future!"
Qian Chunhua recalled that when he went out before, he was often beaten up by the Xiong brothers and came back with a black eye and a swollen face. "It's what he deserves! If you do too many bad things, you will get retribution sooner or later!"
…
When Yang Xiaoxue and Fang Zhiqiang arrived carrying the red mushrooms, there were not many villagers left.
Seeing that she was still holding the child, Yang Chunyan hurriedly brought a chair to her and asked, "Did you go there with the child?"
"What can I do?" Yang Xiaoxue sat tiredly on the chair, looked at Xiao Jiuer lying in the cradle, leaned over to her ear and whispered, "The feeding clothes you gave me are really useful!"
Yang Chunyan glanced at her proudly, "That's right, don't you even look at who did it!"
Yang Xiaoxue said with a smile: "People from the same family are alike. The tone of your speech now sounds like your Huai'an!"
Yang Chunyan laughed and said, "No way! I used to be like this too!"
"So they say people of the same family stick together!" Yang Xiaoxue looked at Zhao Huifang and Zhang Xiuxiang who were sorting red mushrooms over there, "How many people are bringing in red mushrooms to sell today?"
Yang Chunyan: "Our village is not bad, Fangtian and Guanyin have less!"
"There will be more people tomorrow." Yang Xiaoxue's eyes darkened. "That family is shameless. When they saw us picking red mushrooms, they came up to us and asked Zhiqiang to teach them. Zhiqiang couldn't save face, so he taught them, but they still wanted him to take them to pick red mushrooms. That's when he ignored them."
"Forget it!" Yang Chunyan advised, "It's impossible for his parents to cut off contact. As long as Brother-in-law Fang thinks about the family and takes care of the family, that's all that matters."
Yang Xiaoxue nodded, "Ever since the time when we renovated the house, he has become disheartened! Now I am in charge of all the money and property in the family. When we first got married, all the money we earned was given to his mother. Later I found out that he had used it to help the girls in the city."
"That's good!" Yang Chunyan waited until she had fed the child, then took her to the main room and told her about collecting red mushrooms. "If you have a place to collect them, go and give it a try."
"My in-laws live in the mountains above Pulin Town. If I go there to harvest the crops, it will only take one round trip in the morning and evening!" Yang Xiaoxue thought for a while, "In this case, I have to buy an ox cart!"
"If you can drive the ox cart back and forth in one day, then go and collect them. It should be much easier than picking red mushrooms all over the mountain."
"We just renovated our house and have a baby and are holding a one-month-old banquet. If we want to go, we'll have to borrow a few hundred dollars from you to make the trip!" Yang Xiaoxue said a little embarrassedly.
"Okay!" Yang Chunyan nodded readily, "You want a few hundred? I'll get it for you."
"I have more than 600 yuan at home, you can lend us 500 yuan." Yang Xiaoxue held her hand gratefully, "Yan'er, thank you! If you hadn't helped me, I would still be suffering in the old house!"
Yang Chunyan glared at her in reproach, "Why are you still saying these things to me!"
"Okay, I won't tell you!" Yang Xiaoxue hugged her, "I'll remember it all! I'll repay you slowly in the future!"
Yang Chunyan glanced at her and said, "Really? You speak to me in the same tone as my aunt."
At this time, Fang Zhiqiang came over with a backpack, "Chunyan, it's time to pay the bill."
"Here we are!" Yang Chunyan and the other person hurried out, "Sister-in-law, how many kilograms of first-grade and second-grade red mushrooms are there from Brother-in-law Fang?"
"First-class mushrooms are 45 jin, and second-class mushrooms are 18 jin 9 liang." Zhao Huifang said with a smile, "The mushrooms they picked are still the best. There is almost no need to choose."
"Not bad, we earned dozens of dollars today!" Yang Chunyan handed the money to Fang Zhiqiang with a smile.
Fang Zhiqiang smiled and waved his hand, "Give it to your sister, I don't care about the money."
Zhou Huaian came out with a smile, "Yo~ Brother-in-law Fang is a hands-off boss just like me!"
Fang Zhiqiang smiled and handed him a cigarette, "You said before that we are free farmhands!"
The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and Zhou Huaian carried the red mushrooms to the backyard.
On the other side, Yang Xiaoxue took the money and agreed with Yang Chunyan that they would come to her to get the money after they bought the ox cart tomorrow.
After sending away the villagers who were selling red mushrooms, Secretary Xu and Zhou Datian brought the red mushrooms they had picked today for weighing.
The two families planned to set out to collect red mushrooms tomorrow. Zhou Huaian reminded them to prepare more bamboo baskets and told them some precautions for transporting goods.
Secretary Xu and Zhou Datian asked him to take notes with a pen and paper before they hurried back to prepare.
After all, one day's delay means one day's less money.
On the first day of work, the red mushrooms collected filled two drying rooms and some were left over. The washed red mushrooms had to be dried on the same day.
Waves of fresh mushroom aroma wafted from the kitchen. Zhou Jiakang shook his wet hands and ran in. "Grandma, I'm starving. Is the meal ready?"
"Once the mushrooms are fried, we can start eating." Zhou's mother smiled and glanced at him. "How many baskets of red mushrooms did you help wash?"
"So many!" Zhou Jiakang stretched out his wrinkled little hands, "Look, my hands are all wrinkled!"
Mother Zhou looked at it and said, "I'll give you a chicken drumstick later!"
Zhou Jiakang opened his mouth and said, "My teeth have fallen out, and the pheasant is just bones, I can't even chew it!"
"You're complaining about chicken soup!" Zhou's mother slapped him with a stern face, "It's good to have something to eat. Have you forgotten the days last year when there wasn't even a drop of oil to eat?"
"No, I went to help!" Zhou Jiakang walked out in a hurry with a guilty conscience.
Mao had made a mistake in the price of buying red mushrooms before, and almost made Chunyan's family lose money. It takes eight to ten kilograms of red mushrooms to dry one kilogram of dried mushrooms.
Dry goods are sold at 10 yuan per pound, and they are sold at 1 yuan per pound. This is a loss-making business. (*/ω＼*)
(End of this chapter)
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