Yang Chunyan and Zhou's mother carried the frightened chickens and ducks in the baskets to the chicken coop in the back alley and weighed them one by one.
The prices of chickens and ducks have increased a bit this year, but they are still not as expensive as pork. A big rooster weighing six or seven pounds costs only four or five yuan, and ducks are even cheaper.
There were eleven ducks, three drakes and the rest were all female ducks. There were nineteen chickens, eight half-grown ones, two old hens, and the remaining six seemed to be young hens that had just started laying eggs. All in all, the Zhao siblings still made a profit.
They picked out the rooster and duck that were to be sent to Ning An to sell, and put them into cages specifically for the newly bought chickens and ducks.
At the beginning, there was no separation of the two, and Zhou's mother found that the newly bought chickens and ducks would be bullied by the chickens and ducks raised by Guan's family.
It was fine when it was dark, but after daybreak the chickens and ducks discovered the foreign invader and several of them teamed up to pin the invader down and peck at him, with chicken and duck feathers flying all over the circle.
Yang Chunyan and her mother-in-law locked up the chickens and walked to the kitchen with the basket on their backs. "Mom, the rapeseed seedlings in the field need to be transplanted in the next two days, right?"
"Well! Let the third brother harrow the fields twice tomorrow, and transplant the crops the day after tomorrow. We'll use these two days of free time to cut, wash, and dry the vegetables."
"You want to eat some pickled vegetables?"
"Yes! I told your Third Aunt and asked her to save a few buckets of water for me."
"The pickled vegetables from Gaoshui are delicious."
"That's right!" Zhou's mother paused, "When you went to town that day, did you ask Yumei when she planned to get engaged to Dongming and hold the wedding banquet?"
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "Sister Yumei said that she and Fang Dongming are not young anymore, so there is no need for an engagement. They can hold the wedding banquet in the spring of next year after they finish this season."
"It's better to do it directly." Zhou's mother thought for a while, "Tell the youngest son and let him see what kind of furniture is popular now? Order a few pieces for Yumei."
"Huaian told her about this last time in town. She said that they would live in her house after their wedding. Even if they wanted to make furniture, they would wait until Fang Dongming's unit allocated a house next year."
"Don't listen to her. The building of Dongming's company hasn't started construction yet. There are many formalities in government affairs. I don't think it will be finished until next year. We can't use the old furniture by then, right?"
"That's true. Why don't you go to the carpenter in town sometime to see what he likes and make a few pieces for her?"
"Okay, I'll go and see them someday." Zhou's mother put down the basket, "Wash your face and feet first, I'll go see your husband and ask them to smoke less leaf tobacco."
"Yeah!" Yang Chunyan came out with hot water to wash up. The old man had already gone to bed, and Zhou Huaian was leaning on the recliner holding Xiao Jiuer.
"Is Da Huang well behaved at Mina's house?"
"When I came back, they insisted on following me, wanting to come back with me." Zhou Huaian handed the child to her, "When I go into the mountains to collect herbs, I'll find them a dog. I'll have to raise one when I go to Ning'an in the future."
"Okay, when do you plan to go into the mountains?" Yang Chunyan thought of the two sisters who were becoming more and more beautiful. They had no parents or relatives, and she didn't know how they lived in the past.
"We won't be going these days. Ding Dingmao's family and Xu Hongbing's family are going to transplant rapeseed seedlings the day after tomorrow. Xu Laosan said he saw some bees in the woods to the south, so we plan to go in and take a look tomorrow. It would be a good idea to go to Wang Zhen's place the day after tomorrow."
The woods on the south side belong to the village. They seldom go there. Two days ago, Xu Laosan went there to chop firewood and said he saw a wild beehive on the rock that looked like a tiger's mouth.
"Well! There is hot water in the pot. I'll take Jiuer to bed first." Yang Chunyan put the sleeping child to bed, touched his little face, and went to bed too.
When the weather got cold, Yang Chunyan was worried that the little one, who slept like a war, would kick off the quilt and catch a cold, so she moved the crib outside and let the child sleep with them.
The next morning, Zhou Huaian carried his belongings and took Wangcai on his bike to Zhou Yiding's house. Yang Chunyan and Zhou's mother waited at home for the sun to come out and the dew to decrease, then went to the vegetable field to cut vegetables and come back to make sauerkraut.
When Xiao Jiuer saw Zhou Huaian getting on his bicycle and about to leave, she ran after him, "I want to ride on the bike, ride on the bike..."
"Little rascal, let's start chasing now!" Zhou Huaian hurriedly stopped and said to him, "I won't go far, I'll just go to Uncle Yi Ding's house, you just be good at home, I'll find some fruit for you to eat."
The little one pouted and wiggled his butt, "I don't!"
Zhou Huaian deliberately frowned, "If you don't obey, you will be spanked!"
Little Jiu'er wasn't afraid of him at all, she grabbed the back seat support of the car and refused to let him go, "No spanking, just ride in the car!"
Zhou Huaian couldn't bear to hit him, so he shouted at the kitchen: "Chunyan, look at your son, he's stopping me from leaving!"
"He's Chunyan's son, not your son?" Aunt Zhou San walked into the yard carrying a load of steaming water, "My dear, Aunt San has brought you some soy milk."
"Grandma!" Little Jiuer looked at the high-temperature bottle in her hand, walked forward curiously and poked it with her chubby little hand.
"Be good, little boy. Go in with Third Grandma and have some soy milk. Daddy will get you some honey and some fruit!" Zhou Huaian took advantage of the moment when he was stunned and rode away on his bicycle.
When the little guy saw him running away, he cried out "Wow~" and burst into tears, "Bad! Bad..."
"Wait a minute and ask grandma to beat him!" Aunt Zhou San quickly put down the bucket and picked him up. "My dear grandson, where are your mom and grandma?"
"Wow...wow..." The little guy just cried sadly with his eyes closed.
Yang Chunyan came out from the backyard and ran to the front yard when she heard the crying. "He's chasing me again?"
"Yeah!" Aunt Zhou laughed, "The youngest one broke free and ran away, and the little bull started crying at the top of his lungs!"
Little Jiu'er lay on her shoulder, "Jiu'er is riding in the car, Dad is running, bad! The ancestor will beat you!"
Yang Chunyan said with a smile: "Little idiot, Daddy has to go to work to earn money, you are right to chase him away."
"What do you know at such a young age?" Aunt Zhou San picked up the bucket, "Your mother said she wanted to make fermented bean curd, so I made four sheets of tofu and will bring them to you when the hair starts to grow."
"Let us know when it's ok and we'll get it ourselves." Yang Chunyan handed the child to Zhou's mother who came rushing over after hearing the noise. She left the sisters-in-law to talk while she went to heat up pig food to feed the pigs.
Over there, Zhou Huaian quickly arrived at Zhou Yiding's gate. Seeing that the gate was still closed, he kicked it and said, "Lazy pig, go away!"
"I waited for you for a long time, and you still have the nerve to call me a lazy pig." Before he finished speaking, Zhou Yiding opened the gate and walked out with a gun in his hand.
"Hey! Leave the bicycle at your house." Zhou Huaian pushed the bicycle out of the yard, and the two walked towards the brigade headquarters together.
In the rapeseed field on the right, some villagers have started pulling out the rapeseed seedlings and transplanting them.
"Youngest, if the pickle factory can open next year, we may have to harvest rapeseed and press oil in advance!"
Zhou Huaian nodded, "There are two mushroom seasons every year. After that, we go up the mountain to collect herbs and get some mountain products. How comfortable it is! Thinking about the hassles of running a factory gives me a headache."
"The more capable you are, the more work you will do!" Zhou Yiding smiled and gave him a nudge, "Don't worry, no matter what time it is, I will always be your strong backer!"
Zhou Huaian gave him a glare, "What a lie!"
"Haha!" Zhou Yiding laughed and took out a handful of broad beans and fried peanuts from his pocket, "Here comes the stuff that produces farts!"
Zhou Huaian looked at the fried broad beans and peanuts, "Fuck~ Why did you think of bringing this to eat on the road?"
"My mother-in-law sent it to me. She said that all the peanuts, broad beans, and soybeans at home were infested with worms, so she picked out half a bag of good ones and sent it to me. Xuejiao gave her two handfuls of asarum and asked her to take it back and put it in the granary."
Zhou Yiding sighed and said, "My father-in-law has a headache. He takes headache powder every day. He takes two packets at a time and it still doesn't stop. I gave her some money and asked her to take my father-in-law to Ning'an for a checkup. I don't know if she went or not?"
"Then go and have a look when you have time. Diseases must be treated early. Take my grandfather's cataracts for example. If he hadn't been given acupuncture and medication early on, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to see now."
"Let's go there tomorrow morning. You can wait for us at Fangtian intersection then."
The two walked through the bamboo forest and up the mountain, following the narrow path. The vegetable fields on both sides of the road were planted with spinach, garlic sprouts, cauliflower... The most common ones were green vegetables, such as lettuce-like greens, baby cabbages, and large green vegetables used to make salted vegetables in spring.
Zhou Yiding pointed at a baby cabbage covered with spores and said, "Fuck! Whose vegetables are growing so well? They came here to steal them this year!"
Zhou Huaian saw the papaya tree on the edge of the field and said, "Old Xu, if you want Aunt Qian to chase you, come and steal!"
"That was in the past. Now, even if we chop down two trees, Aunt Qian won't scold us." Zhou Yiding looked at the yard below, "Is the second son of the Xu family about to come out?"
"Maybe soon." Zhou Huaian pointed to the Schefflera trees on the hillside ahead, "Look, they're starting to grow buds. When we get to Tiger's Mouth and find a beehive, open it and take a look. If there isn't much honey, save it for after the winter solstice to get the winter honey."
"It seems that there are no Schefflera trees in our forest?"
"No, there are a few wild loquats and a few wild peach trees." Zhou Huaian looked at the bushes in front of him and suddenly remembered something. "When we come back later, Er'er, let's go to the forest farm and pick some jujubes on the hillside."
"No, I saw someone carrying a bamboo pole and sickle yesterday. I remember there were a few beehives on the beam above the tiger's mouth. Can we go up and take a look at the beehive?"
"That's right! My little rascal has learned to run away now. I promised to find some fruit for him. If I don't bring some back, he will have trouble escaping next time."
"There are abacus fruits in front, pick some and take them back."
"The ones in my yard are already in season. The little ones pull the vines and pick them to eat every day."
When they got closer, they found that there were several of them growing on the slope. They put down their backpacks and picked the ripe fruits. They picked up the hoe and dug along the vines. After a while, they dug up more than a dozen plump wild Codonopsis pilosula.
After going up the hill to the Tiger's Mouth, the two searched around and finally found the beehive was built in a dead tree stump, which had been opened and sealed back with mud by someone.
After seeing this, the two lost interest in opening the hive. They searched around but couldn't find the second nest of wild bees. So they simply continued to climb up the mountain to pick jujubes on the ridge. (End of this chapter)
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