Chapter 59: The most beautiful scene
Zhou Huairong said, "Old man, tomorrow we will carry back all the branches we cut. We can dry them and burn them for a long time."
"Yes, cut some more and bring them back. They will be useful when firing the kiln."
Zhou Huaian felt a little embarrassed after hearing this, "Old man, brother, you guys go up the mountain to chop trees, and I'll take care of the meat."
Zhou Huairong leaned over and took a close look at him. "Oh, you haven't changed. You're still our youngest..."
Before he could finish his words, Zhou Huaian stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth...
Everyone burst into laughter as they looked at him, looking silly with the meat in his mouth.
Yang Chunyan looked at her family sitting around the dinner table, chatting and laughing happily with smiling eyes. Such a beautiful and warm scene, although seemingly trivial and ordinary, she felt it was the most beautiful scene in the world.
After the family had eaten and drunk their fill, Zhou's mother said to her sisters-in-law, "I'll clean up here, you guys go do your own things."
Zhao Huifang nodded and looked at the children, "Jia Ming, Jia Liang, Xiao Qian, help grandma clean up."
"Oh!" The three children also helped to clean up the dishes.
Yang Chunyan and a few others took firewood and built a bonfire in the yard, and the four sisters-in-law began to pick herbs.
Clean out the dead leaves on the mugwort and the weeds mixed in it, and put the selected ones in a backpack.
The four Zhou Huairong brothers sat at the entrance of the main hall for a while, and said to Zhou Huaian, "Youngest, let's go catch some lazy cicadas and some yellow eels. You can take Ning An with you tomorrow."
Zhou Huaian glanced at them lazily and said, "You guys go ahead, I haven't filtered the honey yet."
"Why are you still sitting here?" Zhou Huairong said, patting him on the head. "Second brother, third brother, let's go."
The three of them left with the lanterns, Zhou Huaian was still leaning there lazily, and Zhou's father's face darkened when he saw this...
Zhou Xiaowen and Zhou Xiaoru came out of the kitchen and saw Yang Chunyan and others sorting herbs around the campfire, so they came to help, "Mom, Auntie, we'll help you pick them."
Zhou Xiaowen is from the eldest family, and Zhou Xiaoru is from the third family. They are the same age and are best friends.
Zhao Huifang nodded, picked up a piece of mugwort and taught the two how to pick it, "Learn well, and help grandma pick it at home when you learn it. We will sell the herbs to buy things for you."
Zhou Xiaowen said softly, "We know how to pick them. I helped grandma pick them at home today."
Li Qiuyue smiled and said, "Be good, I'll buy you plastic sandals after I sell the herbs."
Zhou Xiaoqian heard it and ran over, "Mom, I want one too. I helped pick one when I got home from school."
Zhou Jiaming and his brother also came over, "We also helped."
Even the two little ones, Zhou Jiakang and Zhou Xiaolin, came over and asked for some.
Zhang Xiuxiang looked at them with a smile, "As long as you work hard and don't cheat or be lazy, everyone will have one."
Zhou Xiaoqian raised her hand, "We promise to work hard and buy me the best ones, do you want it?"
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "What kind of sandals does Xiaoqian want?"
Zhou Xiaoqian thought for a moment and said, "I want the transparent ones with a little butterfly on them. Xu Huanhuan wore a pair last year."
"Aunt Yao, we also want the transparent ones."
"Okay, Auntie, I've got it in mind!"
With the help of a few child laborers, the process became much faster. Everyone quickly picked out the mugwort and water pepper seeds and put them in bamboo baskets.
Yang Chunyan looked at the bamboo baskets and baskets filled with mugwort and Polygonum aviculare and said, "Sister-in-law, there are too many old mugwort and Polygonum aviculare. They may block the view of the chickens on the bus tomorrow. We can dry them in the sun and sell them later. The price will be more reasonable."
Zhao Huifang and the other two looked at her in surprise, "Really? Why don't you dry them before sending them over?"
Yang Chunyan glanced at the people and said, "Drying requires washing, which is tiring and troublesome. Selling wet ones is easier."
Zhao Huifang smiled and said, "Don't worry, I can sell more and earn more money. It's no big deal if I'm tired or hassled a little!"
Li Qiuyue said: "That's right, growing crops is more tiring and not worth the money!"
The quiet Zhang Xiuxiang also smiled and nodded.
Seeing that everyone was very enthusiastic about making money, Yang Chunyan said, "Okay, we will dry them and send them to Ning'an in the future."
The old man smoked a cigarette and came over to help put the washed herbs into the basket and filter the water. He looked at it for a while and said to Zhou's father, "Second son, there are too few winnowing baskets at home. We need to make a few more for them to dry the herbs."
Father Zhou: "We'll weave it for them when we bring the trees back!"
Yang Chunyan: "Old man, build me a few racks so that I can dry herbs without taking up too much space."
Mr. Zhou: "That's easy. I'll chop some bamboo for you to build when I come back from herding sheep tomorrow!"
At this time, there was a snoring sound. Everyone turned their heads and saw Zhou Huaian sleeping on the recliner with his head tilted.
Zhou's father was so angry that he walked forward, twisted his ear, and turned to channel 8, "Your grandfather and Xiaolin are helping you, how can you sleep?"
Zhou Huaian covered his ears in pain, "Ah~ Old man, be gentle, my ears have fallen off... I'm going to squeeze the honey..."
Zhou's father loosened his hand, looked at him with disappointment as he took out the honey, then turned and walked towards the kitchen.
Zhou Huaian rubbed his burning ears and felt like he had no desire to live. He slowly went to the kitchen to get two new dustpans, then returned to his room to get two brand new bright red enamel basins with flowers and a full moon printed on them.
The enamel basin was Yang Chunyan's dowry. A set of bright red enamelware like this is a must-have wedding gift these days.
Zhou's mother never let her daughters-in-law use their dowries, but asked them to keep them for their own use after the family was divided.
Zhou Huaian brought the small square table to the side of the campfire, placed the colander on the porcelain basin, washed his hands and then began to squeeze the honey.
As soon as he took the honeycomb out of the bag, Zhou Xiaolin and Zhou Jiakang ran over to look at him, "Dad, I want some candy."
Zhou Huaian took a knife and cut a small piece of capped honey and put it in the two people's mouths, "Okay, if you eat too much, your teeth will be eaten by worms. Dad will save some for you later, and ask grandma to make honey water for you tomorrow."
"Oh!" The two of them leaned over the small table and slowly sucked the sweet honey in their mouths.
Capped honey is the best of honeys. It can be stored in a sealed container for ten years without deterioration. However, some honeys will darken in color. This type of honey crystallizes fastest at low temperatures. After crystallization, the honey will dissolve into liquid at temperatures above 40 degrees.
This kind of honey comb can be eaten directly. It tastes sweet and when chewed directly, it has a good therapeutic effect on people suffering from pharyngitis and rhinitis.
Zhou Huaian didn't know the function of capped honey, he only knew that this kind of honey comb tasted the best and made his throat feel comfortable after eating it, so he cut a piece off and put it aside, intending to drink it with water when the weather got hot.
He took out the honeycombs with bee pupae. The honeycombs with bee pupae were old. There was not much honey inside but there were quite a few bee pupae.
Not only do bee pupae taste good after being fried, they are also very nutritious.
Take out the honeycomb of the bee pupae and put it aside. Then cut off the pollen on the honeycomb and the honeycomb containing the pollen, scrape them off with a knife and put them in a bowl. Pollen is food for bees. If it is mixed with honey, the honey will easily turn sour.
Zhou Huaian cut the honeycomb into small pieces and held it in his hands to squeeze out the honey in the honeycomb. The beeswax in old honeycomb is harder and more difficult to squeeze out.
It means a lot.
(End of this chapter)
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