Zhou Huaian said with disdain: "There is chicken shit all over the chicken coop, and it stinks."
Yang Chunyan said angrily, "How can it smell? I spread some carbon ash under the chicken coop, and it's always clean after I sweep it every other day."
“My wife is hardworking!”
"I don't want to bother with you!" Yang Chunyan rolled her eyes at him and turned to leave the pigpen.
The old man came out carrying a basket, "The last basket has been sent to the oven. Today is the most relaxing day."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "After tomorrow, I won't be so free anymore. It may be even busier than the busiest time. I will have to stay up longer and work harder."
More than 3,000 kilograms of truffles are placed in two baking rooms and spread thinly on bamboo flats. They dry quickly without having to watch over them all night and turn them over.
Zhou Huairong came out carrying dried truffles. "As long as there is money to be made, I am happy to endure such hardships all year round. It is better than suffering all year round before, but in the end I didn't even have enough money to buy my kids new clothes for the New Year."
"That's right. Now we have hope for the future." Father Zhou came over with coal and happily shoveled the coal into the stove. "If we get up in the middle of the night and add more coal, we can make it to dawn."
Zhou Huairong and the old man carried the truffles into the kitchen and put them away, and Zhou Huaishan and Zhou Huaijun carried the vegetable baskets into the yard.
The old man took a wet sack and covered the vegetables with it. "Okay, Third and Second Brothers, come early tomorrow morning."
"Oh!" The three brothers agreed, and the old man closed the gate and went to the backyard to wash up.
Yang Chunyan and Zhou Huaian returned to their room. After he finished writing down the accounts and went to bed, they told him about the situation of Zhao Meina and her two siblings, and then said, "Huaian, I want to help the three children."
Zhou Huaian looked at her sideways, "How do you want to help?"
Yang Chunyan thought for a moment and said, "I want to sponsor the three children to go to school. We will help them plow the fields. If Mina is admitted to the junior high school in town, I want to lend her our bicycle so that she can ride to town to study."
Zhou Huaian looked at her with a smile after hearing this, "The tuition for three children is only 20 to 30 yuan a year. We can afford it even if they go to high school."
"As for university, I heard that you don't have to pay tuition and you can get subsidies. Plowing the land or borrowing a bicycle are all small things. Just do it if you want to do it!"
Yang Chunyan came forward and kissed him, "Thank you Huai'an!"
Zhou Huaian knocked her on the forehead and hugged her in his arms, "Silly girl, we are a couple, and you are telling me this!"
Yang Chunyan scratched his strong chest, "Couples should also talk about it!"
"Wife, my pain is in my buttocks, not my waist!..." Zhou Huaian grabbed her hand and moved closer.
The next morning, Zhou Huaian left the room refreshed and went to Zhou Huairong's house. He asked him to ride his bicycle to Guanyin Brigade to pick up Zhao Meina and her two siblings, and send them to Zhou Daqing's house so that they could go to the forest farm to dig truffles together.
Zhou Huairong readily agreed and went out pushing his bicycle.
When he rode to the intersection of Guanyin Brigade, he saw Zhao Meina and her two siblings walking towards him carrying baskets on their backs and rakes in their hands.
Zhou Huairong stepped to the side of the siblings, stepped on the brakes, turned the car around and said to the three siblings, "Xiaochuan and Xiu Na sit on the front bar, Mina, let me hang the backpack on the back seat, and you sit in the back!"
"Thank you, Uncle Zhou!" Zhao Meina handed him the backpack. Zhao Xiaochuan happily climbed onto the front bar, and Zhao Xiuna also climbed up.
Zhou Huairong got on his bicycle and said to Zhao Meina who was standing beside him, "You get on first, uncle can carry me."
"Oh!" Zhao Meina hurriedly sat on it.
Zhou Huairong rode his bicycle back. Zhao Xiaochuan happily opened his arms to face the wind, "So fast!"
Zhao Xiuna said hurriedly: "Sit still and don't move."
Zhou Huairong smiled and said, "Yes, hold the handlebars tightly to avoid falling off the bike."
Zhao Xiaochuan hurriedly grabbed the steering wheel and said, "Uncle Zhou is amazing. He can lead the three of us by himself."
"A bicycle can carry 200 to 300 kilograms, and the three of you together can only carry 150 kilograms."
"Wow! Two or three hundred kilograms, that's a lot!"
Zhao Meina listened to her brother's cheerful voice and remembered that when they were still there, she also sat happily on the front bar and chattered non-stop.
Others became orphans because they lost their parents, but they became helpless children when both their parents were still around. Thanks to the help of kind-hearted people in the village, they were able to overcome all the difficulties over the years.
Aunt Yang said that there are always more solutions than problems. She has grown up, and her younger siblings are also growing up day by day. She believes that things will get better and better in the future.
When the four arrived at the gate of Zhou Yiding's yard, they saw two chicken buses parked in the yard. Xu Erchun, Xu Hongbing, Li Wu and Zhou Huaigang were already waiting in the yard.
Zhou Huairong pointed at Zhou Daqing and said, "Mina, this is Grandpa Zhou, that's Uncle Erchun, Uncle Hongbing..."
"Grandpa Zhou..." Zhao Meina and her brother called out obediently.
Zhou Daqing looked at the three siblings with a smile, "Have you had breakfast?"
Zhao Meina nodded and said, "We ate before going out."
After hearing this, Zhou Daqing picked up the basket and put it in the bamboo basket on the chicken bus, "Let's go."
Zhou Huaigang and Li Wu pushed the chicken bus towards the courtyard gate. Xu Hongbing stroked Zhao Xiaochuan, held his hand and said, "If you can't walk later, take the chicken bus and I'll push you."
Zhao Xiaochuan looked at him with sparkling eyes, "Thank you, uncle."
Zhou Huairong followed the group to Tiankan Road, then said goodbye to them and walked home.
Just after passing the grove, he saw Zhou Huaian coming out with a porcelain jar. He looked at him in surprise, "You found someone so quickly?"
"I met the three siblings when I got to the intersection. Uncle Daqing and the others have already gone up the mountain."
Zhou Huaian handed the porcelain jar forward, "Go back and eat quickly. My sister-in-law steamed corn cakes with eggs and flour."
Zhou Huairong smiled and said, "If you like it, take more."
"That's enough. The jar is full." Zhou Huaian carried the jar back home to the backyard and saw that Yang Chunyan had already gotten up. "Why don't you sleep a little longer? What are you doing getting up so early?"
"I can't fall asleep after I wake up!" Yang Chunyan poured the Laba porridge into the ceramic bowl, turned her head and saw the porcelain pot in his hand, "Did my sister-in-law steam it?"
Today is Laba Festival, and Zhou's mother brought over Laba porridge early in the morning.
Zhou Huaian nodded, "Grandpa went to the mountain again?"
Yang Chunyan pointed at the wood ash at the entrance of the pig pen and said, "Grandpa is carrying manure to the compost pit. You can carry the ash over there and call him back for dinner."
"Oh!" Zhou Huaian carried the wood ash to the compost pit halfway up the mountain and saw the old man was already mowing the grass in the flower meadow. "Grandpa is eating."
"That's right!" The old man picked up the flowers and grass and reeds, "This land will be planted with gardenias in the spring. When you go to Ning'an, buy some flowers and grass and reeds and plant them. Sow some in the woods above, and you don't have to go around looking for pig grass."
"I have sprinkled clover and epimedium in the forest. I wonder if sprinkling flowers and grass and sedge has any effect on them?"
"Flowers and grasses can fertilize the soil." The old man was not sure, "It won't have any impact, right?"
"Try spreading a little bit!" Zhou Huaian took the flowers and plants he handed over and put them in his basket. "Come out over there, and I'll take the dung bucket back with you."
The old man nodded, picked up the remaining flowers, plants and reeds and walked towards the gate.
When they got home, Yang Chunyan brought the fried cabbage to the table and said, "Grandpa, wash your hands and eat now."
"Here we go!" The old man spread out the pig grass outside the door of the pigsty, "Wait until the dew dries before feeding it to the pigs."
"Great!" Yang Chunyan went to the kitchen and scooped out a handful of yellow sauerkraut from the sauerkraut jar. She chopped it into small pieces, added fermented black beans and red chili oil and mixed it. The eggs and goose eggs in the pot were also ready.
The old man washed his hands and sat down at the table. "This time the pickled cabbage is well pickled!"
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "Mom pickled it with soy sauce. I'll take a pot of it out and hang it upstairs later. I'll ask Huai'an to buy some lard and make some pickled cabbage sauce for them to cook on the grass."
Zhou Huaian came in carrying pig grass and a dung bucket and said, "Yan'er, these are just oil residues and they are not tasty. Cut two more pounds of meat and chop it up."
"Okay!" Yang Chunyan gave the eggs to the old man, and the three of them started eating.
Zhou Huaian looked at the goose eggs in her hand and asked, "Do you have any more goose eggs at home?"
Yang Chunyan smiled and nodded, "Mom sent over a dozen the day before yesterday. I eat one every two days, which will last me a month."
Just as the three of them finished eating and started to clean up, Zhou's father came with the carpenter, "Third brother, you sent all the bricks, tiles, and wood down the mountain yesterday. Youngest brother, you take Master Li to the town to have a look."
Zhou Huaian said hurriedly: "My butt hurts, let my brother accompany Master Li."
"I totally forgot!" Father Zhou left with Master Li embarrassedly.
At noon, Qu Qiulin arrived with his mule team. Seven people drove twenty-three mules to Yang Chunyan's house in a mighty manner.
He pointed to a tall, thin middle-aged man and said, "Brother Zhou, this is the captain of the cavalry of our neighboring brigade. The ten mules belong to them."
Zhou Huaian reached out and shook Captain Ma's hand, "Okay, okay! Everyone, please come in!"
Captain Ma nodded repeatedly, "Okay, okay!"
Qu Qiulin pointed to the forest and said, "Let's unload the baskets and tie the mules there."
"Great!" Zhou Huaian brought people to help unload the rattan basket and carry it into the yard.
Zhao Huifang took Jiang Yu and others to start sorting and sorting. After picking out a batch and waiting for Luo Haili and Li Qiuyue to weigh it, they sent it to the backyard for cleaning.
Qu Qiulin put down the basket on his shoulder and took out Paris polyphylla, Gastrodia elata, Codonopsis pilosula and a sack. "The bag contains Fritillaria thunbergii. I give it to you."
Zhou Huaian took the heavy bag and felt that it weighed at least three or four pounds. "How can this be so embarrassing!"
Qu Qiulin smiled naively and said, "Brother Zhou, you said we are friends!"
"Okay! I'll take it then."
Zhou Huaian put the bag on the tea table, picked up the Paris polyphylla, Gastrodia elata, and Codonopsis pilosula and took a look. The Paris polyphylla was fresh goods, and some pieces were better than the special goods they sent to Ning An. The ten or so pounds of Gastrodia elata and Codonopsis pilosula were dry goods, but they did not look very good.
He picked up a piece of special-grade Chonglou and said, "Village Chief Qu, to be honest, the purchase price of this kind of quality was not bad some time ago! But I haven't sent medicinal materials to Ning'an for a while."
"I have never sold Gastrodia elata, so I don't know the price. I need to take Ning An to the pharmacy to see the price. I will tell you the purchase price next time you come."
Qu Qiulin said cheerfully: "It's okay, go ask the price, I'll bring the goods down the day after tomorrow."
Zhou Huaian pointed at the herbs and asked, "How many kilograms are there in total?" (End of this chapter)
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