Chapter 176 175: Success
When the two got home, the yard was covered with drying mats filled with herbs. Even the fence beside the vegetable garden was hung with rejuvenating grass.
Zhou Xiaoru and the other two were helping Zhou Xiaolin pick herbs on the steps. When they saw the two coming back, they happily went to greet them, "Dad, Aunt, did you buy anything delicious?"
"Yes, there are big buns, big watermelons, and mangoes!"
Zhou Xiaoru happily shouted to the kitchen: "Grandma, Grandma, Auntie bought big buns, as well as big watermelons and big fruits."
"Wow~" Several children jumped up happily and came to the front of the basket, "Wow, this is a watermelon?"
Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "This is milk mango, and the big round melon below is the watermelon." He gave one to each person and said, "Take it and peel it and eat it, don't throw away the core."
"Oh oh!" Several children happily took the mangoes and looked at the big buns in the paper bag.
Zhou Xiaolin held the mango in her hands and looked at the buns. "Aunt, big buns, big buns."
Yang Chunyan pinched her little face and said, "Little greedy cat, Auntie has to heat it up for Grandma before you can eat it."
"Oh oh!" Several kids took the mangoes and sat on the straw benches on the steps and started eating.
“So sweet and delicious!”
Zhou's mother wiped her hands and came out of the kitchen, looking at the two of them with a frown, "There's so much food at home, why are you spending money on it?"
Yang Chunyan picked up the flour in the basket and said, "We also bought ten kilograms of flour. You can use the oil residue to make dumplings for them to eat at night."
Zhou's mother said distressedly: "You have learned bad habits from the youngest child. You are so extravagant and don't know how to save money."
Zhou Huaian was speechless, "..." It was clearly my wife who suggested buying it, why is she blaming me?
Yang Chunyan carried the flour and Zhou Huaian carried the basket. They went up the steps together. "Everyone has been exhausted during this period. You can steam some fried buns to reward everyone."
Mother Zhou took the flour and returned to the kitchen to put it in the cupboard. She put the buns Zhou Xiaoru handed her into the steamer. When she saw the fruit Yang Chunyan handed her, she was surprised and asked, "What kind of fruit is this? What are you spending money on?"
"The watermelon and mango were both sent by Doctor Wang."
"Oh!" Zhou's mother felt relieved when she saw that they were not the only ones who bought the things. She turned around and asked Zhou Huaian, "Your sister-in-law and the others went up the mountain with Yiding early in the morning. Did they sell those things?"
"We sold them. We didn't sell any wild boar meat or black goat individually. Huang bought them all." Zhou Huaian said as he took out a wad of money from his waist bag. "This is the money from selling vegetables, eggs, hens, and roosters at home."
Zhou's mother counted it and said, "Oh, there are forty-five dollars and sixty cents!"
"Well! Tomorrow I need three more big roosters, ten pounds of green peppers, twenty pounds of beef heart, and thirty eggs..."
After hearing this, Zhou's mother laughed so hard that she couldn't close her mouth. "We still have a few big roosters, but we don't have enough beef heart and eggs. I'll go collect them after dinner."
Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "Are you that happy?"
Mother Zhou smiled and nodded, "I'm telling you, the twenty kilograms of celery I harvested yesterday made a profit of 40 cents!"
"Good, let's continue today!" Zhou Huaian walked to the door, thought about it and turned back to ask, "We didn't see Third Uncle and Third Aunt when we went to the Chinese Medicine Hospital, and we didn't see them on the way back. Are they coming back?"
"I've been back for a while." Zhou's mother sighed, "I saw that your third father was so thin that he looked like a human being. So I gave them some sheep liver, pork liver, and pig's trotters, and asked your third aunt to dig herbs to sell."
Zhou Xiaolin grabbed his trouser leg anxiously, "Dad, Guagua, I want to eat Guagua!"
Zhou Huaian saw that both of her little paws were covered in yellow mango sauce, and one paw was all over her pants, so he quickly pulled her hand away, "Little thing, Daddy is wearing pants for going out, how can he wear them when they are all covered in this?"
"Why are you yelling at her? Can't you just wash it?" Zhou's mother quickly wiped her with her apron, "Yaoyao, you just ate Guoguo. Guagua will eat again after the ancestors and grandpa come back."
Zhou Xiaolin saw that they couldn't eat anymore, so she pointed at the steamer and said, "Eat the big buns."
"Wait for my brother and sister to come back and eat together."
Zhou Huaian went back to the house and changed into work clothes. He glanced at Yang Chunyan, who was picking herbs with the children on the steps, and said, "Yan'er, help me wash my pants. I'll go to the earthen kiln to check it out. I'll come back and eat and then go up the mountain."
"Oh!" Yang Chunyan quickly put down the herbs and took the clothes from his hand.
Mother Zhou came out of the kitchen holding Zhou Xiaolin in her arms. "Youngest, we are installing the kiln today. Liu the kiln master and his son will be at home for lunch. Go and ask them to come back for lunch."
"Got it." Zhou Huaian walked outside.
"Where is your third brother?" Zhou's mother chased after him and asked.
"Yan'er and I came back by bike. Third brother will be back a little later pushing the chicken bus."
Zhou's mother watched him leave and waved to Yang Chunyan, "Those dried goods are sold at a high price per pound. Are you losing money?"
"No, sticky grass, plantain...these are 30 cents a pound, so I still make more than 10 cents a pound. Tianjihuang is 90 cents a pound. I didn't expect the price to be so high. So I make 70 cents a pound of dry goods."
"Then harvest more Tianjihuang in the future."
"The purchase price should be raised a bit, otherwise they will not be willing to send herbs once they know about it."
"How much is appropriate?"
"If you dry 5.5 to 6 kilograms of dried food, we'll charge 7 cents per kilogram!"
"Okay, I'll charge 7 cents per pound if you come in the afternoon." Mother Zhou thought about it and said, "The rapeseed will be harvested in half a month."
"I think this year's rapeseed is pretty good, and the oil we squeeze out can last until next year.
Zhou Huaian arrived at the earthen kiln and saw the old man helping to put bricks into the basket. "Grandpa, it's time to go back and have lunch."
The old man raised his head and wiped his sweat, "Go and call your husband and Master Liu and the others."
"Okay, I'll go see how much I have installed."
Zhou Huaian went to the kiln entrance and saw that the kiln was half filled with earthen bricks. Zhou Huairong and his father passed the bricks to the kiln craftsman Liu and his son, who stacked the bricks up layer by layer.
"Old man, mom is calling you to go back for dinner."
Father Zhou looked back at him and said, "Go back with Grandpa first. We'll come back after we finish this."
"Oh!" Zhou Huaian returned to the drying shed and called the old man to walk back together.
When they reached the corn field, the old man stopped and said to him, "You talked to Secretary Xu about the land reclamation the other day. He said that this piece of wasteland above is one of the four wastelands and can be reclaimed.
There are three or four hundred acres in total. If all four brothers participate in the reclamation, a few dozen acres each won’t be too much. It seems that they agree.”
"Did Secretary Xu tell me what procedures are required for land reclamation?"
"I didn't ask that. Wait a minute, ask your old man."
After hearing this, Zhou Huaian thought for a moment and said, "Grandpa, what do you think if I plant some herbs on this piece of land?"
"Grow herbs?" The old man turned his head and looked at him. "Herbs are naturally grown, can they survive?"
"When I was in school, my teacher told me that the vegetables and grains we eat are also the result of our ancestors bringing wild vegetable and wild rice seeds home, and then successfully growing them after years of experimentation."
The old man looked at the plantains on the roadside for a while, then looked at the barren hills, "There are dozens of acres of them that have been cleared, it would be nice to try a few acres."
Zhou Huaian gave the old man a thumbs up and said, "Grandpa, you are still open-minded. I don't even dare to mention my old man's stubbornness to him."
The old man suppressed his pride and glared at him, "Stop kissing me up here. If you don't do your job well, clean your ass and get spanked!"
"Yes!" The grandfather and grandson walked back talking and laughing.
Whenever he met villagers on the road, they would ask him with a smile what good things had happened to him.
(End of this chapter)
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