Chapter 476 477: That family is not good
Secretary Lin hurriedly called out to the villagers in his brigade, "Don't crowd. It's just a matter of time. Don't let the villagers in Baicaoping laugh at us old Gaoshan people who don't know the rules!"
Secretary Zhang also shouted to the villagers, "People from Baicaoping, we must show our sense of ownership. The villagers from Baicaoping came here in the middle of the night and it will take them another half day to go home. Why don't we let them weigh the food first?"
When the villagers of Baicaoping saw that the secretary had spoken, they hurriedly let the people of Baicaoping move to the front.
Secretary Lin said embarrassedly: "Old Zhang, the villagers in Baicaoping are much more polite than us in Gaoshan."
Secretary Zhang: "Lao Lin, our two elder brothers, not to mention the younger brother, are all from Gaoshan!"
Secretary Lin grinned, "The good things come from the mountains. This year we are relying on the truffles in the forest to have a good harvest."
Secretary Zhang thought about it and said, "If we really receive it in the spring, we will send it out."
The tractor slowly drove into the drying dam, and the two secretaries hurried to greet it.
Secretary Xu jumped down from the roof and stretched out his hands to Secretary Zhang from afar, "Haha! Zhang Erwa, I'm here to see you!"
"Xu Mangzi, you're such a bastard!" The two men held hands tightly together, with light flashing in their eyes.
"Okay, okay! I'm fine!" Secretary Xu patted his arm, "You're old too, your hair is all gray."
"It's normal to be old. If you don't grow old, you'll be an old monster." Secretary Zhang pulled him and pointed at Secretary Lin. "Old Lin from Baicaopo was demobilized two years later than us."
Zhou Huaian and his companions looked at the three excited people and the villagers who were queuing and looking at them, and were busy taking down the scales, baskets and straw mats from the tractor to complete the preparations.
Luo Haili pulled the collar of her cotton coat and felt that the weather in Baicaoping was much colder than in Funiu.
The tops of the distant mountains were covered with white snow, and gusts of biting snow wind blew, chilling you to the bone.
Zhang Xiuxiang looked at the villagers waiting on the drying dam and felt that their lives were even more difficult than her own family's before. Some of the villagers were wearing clothes like the hundred-knotted clothes of beggars in the movies, and there was not a single piece of good cloth left.
The child's face was chapped from the cold, and two streams of clear snot hung from his red nose...
Secretary Xu looked at the old military uniform that was washed white and was full of patches, including a big patch on the knee, and stepped forward to pat him on the shoulder and said, "Secretary Lin, you've worked hard!"
Secretary Lin said cheerfully: "Thanks to you for thinking of us, this year's New Year is going to be better. I just hope they can harvest for a little longer!"
Secretary Xu's face turned red after hearing this. It wasn't him who thought of collecting this, it was the youngest and the others who thought of it!
"Don't worry, the Zhou family collected them for the pharmaceutical factory in the provincial capital. But I have to tell the villagers to remember to fill the ground after digging the truffles, so as to avoid having nothing to sell later."
Secretary Zhang and Secretary Lin's eyes lit up. "Old Xu, do you mean to collect all the money from now on?"
Secretary Xu did not dare to say anything definitive, "If our truffles are of good quality and they are satisfied, we should be able to buy more next year."
Zhou Huaian came over and said with a smile: "Secretary Zhang, Secretary Lin, no matter whether they accept it or not, at least now we know that Lin Zi's truffles are valuable, right!"
They have already made the assignments. Luo Haili weighed the truffles, while Zhao Huifang, Zhang Xiuxiang, Zhou Yiding and Zhou Huaijun selected the truffles and classified them into different grades.
Zhou Huairong put the graded truffles into the large bamboo baskets on the tractor.
Secretary Lin nodded, "Yes, yes, yes. Now I know that truffles are valuable mushrooms, not just mushrooms for feeding pigs."
"The youngest one is right! As long as our products are good, they will think that the money spent is worth it, and they will definitely come back next year to collect them."
"Don't worry, the truffles here are guaranteed to be good!"
Zhou Huaian looked at the goods in the baskets of several villagers and was very satisfied. "Okay, let's get started! Uncle Xu, can you please help me keep the accounts?"
"I'll carry out two tables." Secretary Zhang walked towards the office and busily ordered people to light two more bonfires. There was not much else in the mountains, but there was plenty of firewood.
After Zhou Huaian and a few others helped to grade the truffles from the first family, they sat down at the table with Secretary Xu to keep accounts and do the accounting.
Luo Haili weighed and peeled the fruits skillfully and read out the numbers loudly.
Secretary Xu kept accounts with one hand and fiddled with an abacus with the other, and his movements were much more skillful than Zhou Huaian's.
Zhou Huaian looked at the man standing in front of the table, "Special goods are 15 jin, first-class goods are 30, second-class goods are 46, third-class goods are 35, and the last-class goods are 10 jin. The total is 110.7 yuan."
Zhou Huaian counted out eleven big unity notes, one five-cent note and one twenty-cent note and handed them to him, "Brother, take them."
"Oh oh!" The man responded repeatedly, tightly holding the money in his hand, and turned to look at Secretary Zhang, "Old man, it really made money, it's still great unity."
Zhou Huaian didn't expect that he was from Secretary Zhang's family. It seemed that Baicaoping Village was really poor. Even the son of the brigade secretary was so excited to see the great unity.
Secretary Zhang felt it was too much to bear, so he glared at him and said, "Boss, take it home quickly and ask your mother to cook two pieces of smoked rabbit meat at noon."
"Oh oh!" Boss Zhang picked up his backpack and ran home.
When the villagers behind saw Boss Zhang getting the money and running back, they excitedly looked at the truffles in their baskets, recalling how many truffles they had dug up and how much they could earn today.
Secretary Xu glanced at him and asked, "Old Zhang, why didn't your eldest son join the army?"
Secretary Zhang shook his head. "The eldest and second sons are not qualified. The third son joined the army last year and I don't know what he will do after he is discharged!"
Secretary Xu saw his worried look and sighed, "After the household contract responsibility system was implemented, life will be better for everyone, right?"
"Life is easier for hardworking people, but harder for lazy people!"
"If you are lazy when eating from the big pot, and you are still lazy when you are allocated to each household, you deserve not to be able to eat!"
"There are still a few families in the village who slacked off during the collective period, but became even lazier after the division of households." Secretary Zhang said, looking at Zhou Huaian, "I remember Li Jiaqiuyue, it seems that she married into a family with the surname Zhou in your area."
Secretary Xu nodded and said, "She is marrying his third brother."
Secretary Zhang shook his head. "That family is no good! All the men in the village went up the mountain to dig truffles, and only a few women from his family went to dig. The women in the eldest family are more diligent, but even the women in the second family are lazy. They can't finish the work that others can do in a day in three days."
Zhou Huaian laughed and said, "No wonder even my third sister-in-law is afraid of her family."
"Family members like that are full of parasites. Who wouldn't be afraid of them?" Secretary Zhang thought that Li Qiuyue was lucky enough to have found a good family.
The bonfire was roaring. Zhao Huifang and the others worked on it for a while and then felt a little hot, so they took off their cotton coats and started working.
Several people quickly put truffles of different grades into different bamboo baskets, thinking that the soil here was good and there were a lot of big ones.
Zhang Xiuxiang picked up a piece and said happily, "Look, it's another special item."
Zhao Huifang: "I have picked out several pieces. The special and first-class pieces here are much more than ours. I am worried that the money brought by the youngest is not enough?"
Zhang Xiuxiang looked at Zhou Huaian and said, "No way? We have been collecting truffles for such a long time, the youngest one should have prepared something."
"That's true!" Zhao Huifang put the selected truffles into a bamboo basket, and Zhou Yiding took it over to weigh it.
Several people worked together for more than half a month. Although it was busy, it was not chaotic at all, and they quickly sent away many villagers who were queuing.
The man with dry yellow hair came forward with a basket on his back, poured the truffles on the straw mat, and nervously watched Zhao Huifang and the others pick them while holding the little boy's hand.
The little boy asked curiously: "Old man, the big and small ones taste the same, why do we have to separate them?"
The man thought for a moment and said, "If it's big, it means it's growing well, just like the sweet potatoes at home. If they're big, it means the seeds are good and the soil is fertile!"
"Oh!" The little boy nodded, not quite understanding.
Zhou Huaijun picked up a piece of truffle that looked like several large tumors piled together and asked, "Why is this piece milky white?"
The man with dry yellow hair stepped forward and said, "This is a white truffle. There are much fewer of these than the black ones. I only found five after a whole day of digging." He then dug out two more truffles from the pile and said, "Smell them. These ones smell better than the black ones."
He looked at Zhou Huaijun nervously, worried that he would think he was lying and get angry and refuse to accept his truffles.
Zhou Huaijun picked it up and smelled it. "Okay, this big one is special, and those few are first-class. Your goods are good, and you should be able to sell them for a lot."
In fact, he has smelled truffles so many times that he no longer thinks they are smelly. He thinks the eggs steamed with truffles at home taste pretty good.
The man's mouth almost grinned from ear to ear after hearing this, and he thanked her repeatedly: "Thank you very much, thank you very much!"
That’s all good now. I’ll give the kids’ tuition to the teacher tomorrow, and then go buy some cotton and cloth to make new jackets and new cotton pants for the kids to wear during the New Year.
Zhou Yiding also picked up one. He had been collecting truffles for such a long time, but this was the first time he saw a truffle with a milky white skin.
He thought that things that were not easy to find were valuable because they were rare, and the white-skinned ones might be more valuable. "Brother, if you pick the white truffles later, please separate them."
"Weigh it first, and tell big brother to find a separate basket to put it in."
"Great!" Zhou Yiding put the selected truffles on the scale, "Sister Luo, weigh them."
"Okay!" Luo Haili checked the scale and reported the number. He lifted another basket and weighed several grades of truffles. He said to the man, "Go over there to pay."
"Hey, hey!" The man took the little boy and went to Zhou Huaian's desk with a grin to get the money.
After Luo Haili finished weighing, she saw Zhao Huifang and the others busy all the time. She thought that Zhou Yiding had to pick the truffles and help her carry them up and down. "Yiding, how about you do the weighing and I'll help pick them?"
"It's okay, Sister Luo!" Zhou Yiding said with a smile, "Mother Er said you can't stay there for too long, so I'll do it!"
"Oh!" Luo Haili sniffed and hurriedly stood in front of the scale.
All the truffles carried by the villagers of Baicaopao were weighed. Secretary Lin put the money in his pocket and said goodbye to Secretary Zhou and Secretary Xu.
Secretary Zhang hurriedly pulled him back and said, "Old Lin, have lunch here before you leave!"
"Making money is important." Secretary Lin said with a smile, "After this busy period, I will go up the mountain to hunt some wild animals and come to have a drink with you guys."
"Okay!" Secretary Zhang patted him on the shoulder. "Go slowly on your way. It won't waste time if you come a little later the day after tomorrow."
Secretary Xu also said, "Youngest and the others should come at this time from now on. It would be just right for you to leave an hour later."
"That's great!" Secretary Lin smiled and waved at a few people, then strode away with the villagers with smiling faces.
(End of this chapter)
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