Chapter 68: Hundreds of Dollars Earned in a Day
Zhao Huifang and Zhang Xiuxiang originally thought that they would be lucky to get five or six pieces this time, but they didn't expect it to increase twenty times. They were so happy that they didn't know what to say for a moment.
Zhou Huaian felt a little sad when he saw the money counted by Yang Chunyan, "Mom, look, we didn't hide the money from my sister-in-law and the others!"
Mother Zhou didn't scold him this time. She smiled and said, "You're already over 20 years old, and you finally did something that makes you proud!"
"It hurts!" Zhou Huaian sighed, then went out and lay down on the recliner at the door.
Zhao Huifang said embarrassedly: "Chunyan, youngest, sister-in-law took advantage of you."
"No, he's just joking. Don't bother with him." Yang Chunyan handed the money to the three of them. "Sister-in-law, after we finish our meal, let's go into the mountains and make some money before the magnolia flowers bloom."
Zhang Xiuxiang looked at her gratefully, "Chunyan, thank you for taking us along and giving us so much money."
Yang Chunyan looked at the three of them and smiled: "Sister-in-law, you don't always have such good luck."
Zhao Huifang: "Yes, we are not greedy. We think it's good enough if we get one or two dollars at a time."
People in the village who had connections went to the coal mine to carry coal. They would carry the coal from the mine mouth and walk more than ten miles along the mountain road to the coal yard, and it would only cost two yuan. Digging herbs was much easier than carrying coal.
Zhang Xiuxiang took over the conversation, "Mom said that even one or two dollars at a time is not a small amount. At the end of the month, it's more than what people at work earn."
Mother Zhou looked at them, and the fine lines at the corners of her eyes were all squeezed together. "Today, you have earned several months' salary for others."
"Mom," Yang Chunyan looked at Zhou's mother and took out another twenty yuan and put it in her hand, "This money is for you."
"I have some too!" Mother Zhou looked at the money in her hand and smiled so hard that she couldn't close her mouth.
"Yes!" Yang Chunyan nodded. "Only if you help us cook and sort and dry the herbs can we go out to dig herbs and earn money!"
"I'll take ten too." Zhao Huifang took out ten and put them in Zhou's mother's hand. "Mom, you've worked hard all these years!"
"Mom, I'll give you ten yuan too!" Zhang Xiuxiang followed immediately. Li Qiuyue hesitated for a moment and also took out ten yuan.
Mother Zhou looked at them with satisfaction, feeling sweeter than drinking honey, "From now on, you can go and earn money with peace of mind, and I will help you clean up at home." As she spoke, she suddenly remembered something, "Oh! I thought you would be back in the afternoon, so I cooked for us."
Zhao Huifang said hurriedly: "Let's go and make cornmeal and bake some pancakes."
"Sister-in-law, we haven't eaten the dry food we brought this morning. I put it in the cupboard. Heat it up and eat it before leaving."
"Yes." Zhou's mother and Zhao Huifang hurried towards the kitchen.
"You guys take a break, I'll go help." Zhang Xiuxiang also went to help.
Yang Chunyan walked back with her bag, and Zhou Huaian followed behind her. "Yan'er, I'll leave the money with you first. I'll ask you for it when I run out of money."
Yang Chunyan glanced at him and said, "I'll take a notebook and write down the money you should have shared each time, so that you won't accuse me of owing you money in the future."
"Yan'er," Zhou Huaian sat down on the edge of the bed, "You're hurting my feelings by saying that! We are a couple, my money is yours, use my money for future expenses, and save yours!"
"Okay! Come to me when you're done!"
Yang Chunyan took out a notebook to record the accounts and put the money into the compartment at the bottom of the cabinet.
"Hmm!" Zhou Huaian sprawled out on the bed, "Yan'er, we made several hundred dollars today. If every day is like today, I think it won't be long before we have enough money to buy a tractor."
"Going up the mountain to pick herbs is not like going to the fields to pick corn. It depends on luck." Yang Chunyan took out her rubber shoes. "Besides, we don't even have a ticket to buy a bicycle, let alone a tractor ticket. I think we should save enough money to buy a cow first."
She wanted to build a row of barns near the mountain, raise some chickens and ducks, buy a few pigs, and buy a cow...
"Ah~" Zhou Huaian yawned tiredly, "I'll listen to you and save enough money to buy the cow first."
Yang Chunyan changed out of her clothes and pants, put on long-sleeved clothes, and put on rubber shoes. "I'm going out. You change into your rubber shoes later."
"Oh!" Zhou Huaian responded lazily, squinting his eyes, lying there not wanting to move even his toes!
When I was about to fall asleep, I thought of the Magnolia officinalis flowers in the mountains. I thought that flowers cannot wait for anyone to bloom, and if one more flower bloomed, I would lose a few cents from the sale price. So I had to cheer myself up, change my shoes and go out.
Zhou Huaian went out and found a long bamboo pole, tied a serrated sickle to the pole, and planned to go up the mountain to cut the Magnolia officinalis flowers that were difficult to pick from the treetops.
Zhou's mother and Zhao Huifang had already heated up the rice and cooked an egg soup. They started eating without waiting for Zhou Jiaming and the others to come home from school.
After filling their stomachs in no time, Zhao Huifang and the other two, under the guidance of Yang Chunyan, tied their trouser legs, took their knives and bamboo strips, put on their backpacks and sacks, took their water bottles and bamboo tubes, and went up the mountain.
Along the way, Yang Chunyan saw the white grass and said to the others, "Sister-in-law, the roots of the white grass are also medicinal herbs. Dig them up, wash them, dry them, and sell them in a Chinese medicine shop."
Imperata root is sweet and cold in nature. It enters the lung and stomach meridians. It has the effects of clearing away heat, promoting body fluid, cooling blood and stopping bleeding.
Imperata root is sweet and cold in nature, good at clearing heat from the lungs and stomach. Because it has a diuretic effect, it can conduct heat downward. Its characteristics are: sweet but not nauseating, cold in nature but not hindering the stomach, diuretic but not hurting yin, especially for those with fever and insufficient yin and fluid, it is most suitable.
Zhao Huifang and the others looked at the white grass on the slope.
Li Qiuyue sighed, "Oh my god! It turns out that Imperata root is also a herb. When we went up the mountain to cut grass for pigs, we often dug it up, wiped it clean, and chewed it. It was a little sweet and also quenched thirst."
"Many wild grasses are medicinal herbs. I'll tell you when I see them. But the price of these herbs is only a few cents per pound. It's more cost-effective to dry them and sell them."
The three of them listened carefully and went over what Yang Chunyan said several times in their minds to avoid forgetting it.
When they encountered other herbs along the way, Yang Chunyan also carefully taught them how to collect them.
Zhao Huifang and the other two followed Yang Chunyan and the other two, climbed up the first ridge and took a rest. "Chunyan, you guys have to run so far to dig herbs?"
"What the hell is this!" Zhou Huaian pointed to the hill in front of him, "Sister-in-law, we are going to that beam."
"It's so far, hurry up, otherwise you won't be able to pick many flowers when you get there!"
After they went down the mountain to catch their breath, they continued to climb up again. Finally, they saw the Magnolia officinalis trees halfway up the mountain.
Zhang Xiuxiang leaned forward with her hands on her thighs, panting heavily, and looked up at the huge white flowers on the top of the branches of the big tree on the mountainside, "So beautiful!"
Li Qiuyue sniffed, "What a nice smell!"
Zhao Huifang nodded breathlessly, "Yeah!"
"Let's get to work!" Zhou Huaian said as he tied up the sack with a hemp rope and climbed up the tree. Yang Chunyan handed him the bamboo pole and said, "Be careful and stand firm."
"Don't worry!" Zhou Huaian winked at her and started working.
"Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, sister-in-law, look, this is the Magnolia officinalis bark I harvested yesterday."
Yang Chunyan demonstrated the method of harvesting Magnolia officinalis and reminded them: "You must harvest according to the method I teach you, otherwise these trees will not survive and we will not be able to harvest them in the future."
"Okay!" the three responded in unison.
(End of this chapter)
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