Mother Zhou recalled the banquet held by Wang Zhen's family in the provincial capital and nodded, "Yes, city people eat elegantly. The bowls they use for eating are as big as our dipping saucers. We don't use bowls like us for eating."
The old man tapped his pipe and said, "Okay, it's already one o'clock. We've discussed everything. Let's go to bed."
"Old man, you and Xu Kun should go to bed first. I'll keep watch for half the night." Father Zhou said as he picked up a small bamboo rake and walked towards the baking room.
"I slept for two hours in the afternoon. I'm not sleepy now. Uncle Zhou Er, you go to sleep first." Lao Xiazi also picked up a small bamboo rake and went to the baking room.
Zhou Huaian said to Zhou Huaishan: "We will collect them at the asphalt road tomorrow morning. The people from Baicaoping may arrive there after nine o'clock. We can go later."
Zhou Huaishan thought for a moment and asked, "What about an hour that night?"
"Just leave at six!"
"Six o'clock is good. I can sleep for more than an hour." Zhou Huaishan yawned, picked up the bucket and walked out.
Zhou Huaian carried his son back to the house, put Xiao Jiuer on the bed, and said to Yang Chunyan who was getting some clean clothes, "Secretary Zhang has taken people to check it out, and the collapsed parts are still shedding mud and rocks.
Everyone was busy picking mushrooms, planning to wait until the rainy season was over before slowly repairing the road. We were collecting mushrooms on the asphalt roadside before the repairs were completed. "
"It will save you some trouble if you collect it on the roadside. It's raining a lot recently, so we need to put up a shed!"
"It's ready. They cut straw and sticks and tied them to the trees." Zhou Huaian took off his yellow rubber shoes, and a smell of rotten vegetable stems emanated from them. "Fuck! If they had two more pairs, I'd be poisoned."
"You know it stinks, but you're still taking off your clothes in your room?" Yang Chunyan glared at him, quickly put down her clothes and opened the curtains, "Hurry up and put them on the steps."
"Hmm!" Zhou Huaian pinched his nose with one hand and pointed two fingers with the other hand, took the rubber shoes out, came back with a bitter face, touched his buttocks, and complained to Yang Chunyan, "My skin has been rubbed again. Apply some iodine to me later."
"Go wash and I'll put some medicine on you." Yang Chunyan handed him a vest and shorts. "Or let your brother and sister-in-law go tomorrow, and you can help at home and take a rest."
"That's right!" Zhou Huaian took the vest and shorts and put his arm around her, "My wife still loves me!"
"You stink of sweat, why don't you take a shower!"
"Yeah!" Zhou Huaian walked out in his sandals towards the backyard and saw Wangcai and Lai Fu standing at the backyard door. When they saw him coming, they turned their heads to look at him and continued standing there motionless.
He stepped forward and patted Wangcai, "Why are you all standing there? Is there something wrong?"
"Woof woof woof!" the dog barked a few times outside.
Zhou's mother came over after hearing the noise. "What's going on? Is there a thief?"
"I'll go get a flashlight and take a look upstairs." Zhou Huaian turned around and ran back to get the flashlight, climbed upstairs, and scanned the area with the flashlight, but didn't see anything unusual.
Zhou's mother also climbed up and asked, "Did someone steal the herbs?"
Zhou Huaian scanned the area again and said, "I didn't see anything. I'll go check again tomorrow morning."
"There may be wild animals passing through the back door, go to bed quickly." Zhou's mother turned and walked downstairs. Zhou Huaian hurriedly shone the flashlight on her, "Slow down, be careful not to fall."
"I can walk every day without falling even if I close my eyes."
"You think you are still young, but when you get older your feet won't be stable anymore, if you fall you will be the one to suffer!"
"I see, I see. You are so talkative at such a young age."
The mother and son went downstairs, and Yang Chunyan also came, "Did you find anything?"
"No, probably a night owl."
The couple tidied themselves up and went to bed, and they realized that it was already dawn just as they fell asleep.
Zhou Huaian grabbed his shirt and pants and put them on, then said to Yang Chunyan, "You sleep for a while, I'll go tell my eldest and third brothers."
Yang Chunyan nodded. "The net bag hanging on the bamboo pole in the backyard contains the Aconitum we dug yesterday. Give it to the third brother and ask him to give it to Wang Zhen."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian came forward and rubbed her, "Lie down obediently and wait for me to come back."
"I don't want to bother with you!" Yang Chunyan patted his restless hands, turned over and continued to sleep.
Zhou Huaian went to the backyard to pick up the net bag, and when he came back, he saw that his mother had already opened the gate. "Mom, has the old man been to the back hill to check?"
"After checking, they said they didn't find anything, and the medicinal field was fine."
"It's good that no one noticed." Zhou Huaian went out with the net bag and saw that Zhou Huaishan had already driven the hand-held scooter from the baking room to the outside of the yard.
He walked forward with a bitter face and said, "Third brother, my butt is rubbed raw again. You go with the eldest brother today."
Zhou Huaishan glanced at his butt with sympathy, "Go and talk to your eldest brother, and ask your eldest sister-in-law to come along as well."
"Yes!" Zhou Huaian put the Aconitum in the truck bed, "It's Aconitum in there, take it and give it to Wang Zhen."
"Just let them go!" Zhou Huaishan agreed and went into the yard, helping Zhou's mother carry out the chickens, ducks and eggs that were to be sent out.
"There's no water on the roadside, so I made some rice balls for you. You can eat them at noon and have a better meal when you come back in the evening."
"We need more tea. One pot is not enough." Zhou Huaian came over and said.
"Okay, I'll go and install it for you." Zhou's mother walked towards the baking room next door.
After seeing Zhou Huairong and the other two off, Zhou Huaian was just about to go back to take a nap when he saw Uncle Chen and two villagers driving a ox cart to the grove.
"Why so early? Can't you come later?" Zhou Huaian sighed and resigned himself to walking towards the baking room next door.
Uncle Chen greeted Zhou Huairong and drove his ox cart straight to the outside of the oven. Seeing him coming out with a pile of bamboo baskets, he smiled and said, "Youngest brother, it's rare for uncle to see you!"
"I'm going to be lazy today, so I let my eldest and third brothers go." Zhou Huaian put down the bamboo basket and touched his pockets, only to find that he had changed his clothes but didn't bring any cigarettes. "Uncle, I'll go back and get a pack of cigarettes."
"I smoke my uncle's cigarette!" Uncle Chen took out a cigarette and passed it to him, "My uncle smokes a cheap one!"
"I also smoke Chun Geng. I think Da Qianmen smokes similar cigarettes." Zhou Huaian put the cigarette between his ears with a smile and helped to move the bamboo basket down.
"Uncle, how's the harvest after the market opened?"
"Not bad." Uncle Chen happily put down a basket of mushrooms, "Your family has added a few more varieties this year, and everyone is very happy."
"The consecutive rains have been good. If there are a few more sunny showers next, there will definitely be more mushrooms."
"There are more chicken mushrooms this year than last year. Many people say it's a pity that your family doesn't harvest chicken mushrooms. It would be nice if you did."
"It's all decided by the boss over there, and we just follow his orders."
Lao Xiazi and Zhou's father also came to help. It didn't take long for them to unload the bamboo baskets from the ox cart. Uncle Chen and two villagers led the ox outside and tied it up.
Yang Chunyan and her two sisters-in-law also came. They opened the bamboo baskets and started sorting the mushrooms, big red mushrooms, green mushrooms... It took more than a dozen people more than an hour to finish.
Ever since the Zhou family started collecting mountain products, they have sorted the goods before weighing them each time. As time went on, the villagers who delivered the goods to sell all understood one thing: as long as the goods were delivered according to requirements and no unqualified mushrooms were carried in, the sorting and weighing time would be short and they would not be deliberately deducted.
After Yang Chunyan gave the money to Uncle Chen, Zhou's mother hurried into the house and took out a few rice balls wrapped in rice leaves from the steamer, and gave them to Uncle Chen and the two villagers to eat on the way.
When Zhou Huaian sent Uncle Chen outside, he heard the loud crying in his yard and said hurriedly, "Uncle, take care! My naughty kid has woken up and is crying in the yard!"
"Okay, okay, go and have a look."
Zhou Huaian took out the key and opened the door, and saw Xiao Jiuer sitting on the ground with dahlias and sunflowers in front of him. The chubby little boy pulled the petals all over the ground, and did not forget to raise his head and howl at the top of his voice.
Seeing the tear marks on his face, he thought the little guy wouldn't be able to find them when he woke up, so he cried a few times. Later, when no one came to help him, he ran away to destroy the flowers.
When Xiao Jiuer saw him come in, she turned over and got up, pouting at him, "Mommy is bad! Spanking you!"
"They're only as big as bean sprouts, which one do you want to hit?" Zhou Huaian picked him up with amusement, touched his pants, and seeing that they were not wet, he patted his butt lightly twice.
"You little rascal, Huahua has a grudge against you. Look, you've rubbed your mother's Huahua bald again. You'll be beaten later."
Xiao Jiuer hugged his neck and pointed to the toilet in the backyard, "Daddy, oh daddy!"
"Okay, oh daddy!" Zhou Huaian held him and walked quickly towards the toilet.
The father and son came out of the toilet, and Yang Chunyan also came back. When Xiao Jiuer saw her, she pouted and turned her head to hug Zhou Huaian's neck, "Mom is bad, spank me!"
Yang Chunyan understood. "You came out by yourself?"
Zhou Huaian smiled and nodded, "He woke up and couldn't find anyone, so he ran out by himself. Look at those flowers on the ground, they were all done by him." He winked at her and said, "Do you want me to spank you?"
Yang Chunyan walked behind Zhou Huaian and pinched her son who was pouting on his shoulder, "You little rascal, you pinched your mom's hair until it became bald, and I haven't spanked you yet!"
Little Jiuer looked at her aggrievedly, "Jiuer pees!"
"Mom knows, Jiuer woke up because he wanted to pee!" Yang Chunyan smiled and hugged him, "Mom didn't do it on purpose, my uncle sent a lot of mushrooms, and mom was so busy that she forgot that Jiuer hadn't woken up yet."
The little guy hugged her neck and lay on her shoulder, "I'm hungry!"
"Your old man is hungry too!" Zhou Huaian rubbed his stomach. "Okay, I've been busy all morning and my stomach is empty. Change his clothes, wash his face and come over to eat."
Yang Chunyan nodded, "Go get the warm water bottle and add some hot water so I can wash his butt."
"I sat on the ground for a long time, and my butt was icy cold."
"It's cold in the morning. You won't catch a cold sitting on the ground for so long, right?" Yang Chunyan hurriedly touched his little hand and was relieved to see that it was warm.
I carried the child back to the room, put him on a chair, and when I was making the crib, I found that there was a large wet spot on the blanket.
Today it’s not the child’s fault. They didn’t pick him up from the bed in time. Fortunately, the bedsides were not high. If he had climbed out and fallen somewhere, it would have been heartbreaking to think about it.
After Zhou Huaian brought the hot water, he washed the child, changed his clothes, and soaked the blanket. He took the quilt out to dry in the yard. (End of this chapter)
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