Zhou Huaian got home and took out his passbook, looking at Yang Chunyan proudly, "Yan'er, guess how much I sold today?"
Yang Chunyan saw his expression and understood immediately, "No need to guess, judging from your appearance, the price should be good. Did the flowers we found in the back mountain get the special grade?"
"It's approved. Wang Zhen said that if you read it carefully, there's an 80% chance that you're right." Zhou Huaian handed her the passbook. "It's absolutely right to listen to Wang Zhen. The special grade is 390 yuan per catty. The first grade is a full 100 yuan higher than last year..."
In Yang Chunyan's previous life, the best wild mulberry mulberry yellows were worth thousands of yuan per kilogram, and it was not easy to buy authentic wild ones. "In the future, wild mulberry mulberry yellows will become less and less. If I come across good ones, I will collect them and store them, and then sell them when the price goes up!"
"That's what I was planning too." Zhou Huaian said with a smile, "Also, Wang Zhen will go to your house this afternoon to help thresh the grain... He is very honest and said he will learn and apply what he has learned."
Yang Chunyan was a little surprised, "My mother will be very happy to see him go."
Zhou Huaian said sourly: "Yan'er, when I went to help your family with chores before, was your mother-in-law happy?"
Yang Chunyan glanced at him and said, "Glad, she also said that you don't look like a lazy guy at all!"
"You're just trying to fool me!" Zhou Huaian told her about the hospital in the provincial capital and sighed, "I didn't expect that Wang Zhen, who looks so cold and lonely, actually has a warm heart."
Yang Chunyan already knew the characters of the two of them. "There's no problem with the provincial capital. When are you going to Baicaoping to tell Brother Zhang the news?"
"Let my eldest brother talk to him tomorrow!" Zhou Huaian took out the things in his backpack. "Ding Ding Mao said he would call me when it gets dark to go to the forest to hunt gray storks and turtledoves and stew bamboo fungus for me."
After hearing this, Yang Chunyan laughed and said, "Grey stork and turtledove stewed with bamboo fungus, you guys really know how to eat!"
There are many gray storks resting on the riverside, catching fish to eat. The big ones weigh more than three kilograms. After dark, they roost in the woods by the river.
She remembered that this large bird, whose scientific name was the heron, would be listed as a national second-class protected bird in the future. Poaching would be severely punished, and someone in the village had been caught and sentenced.
"Ha'er!" Zhou Huaian squeezed her hand. "Life is all about food and clothing. If it weren't for food, why would we work so hard?"
"You are the only one with too many crooked ideas!"
"I'm being reasonable, okay?" Zhou Huaian took the cakes and tobacco leaves out of his pocket and said, "Put them in Grandpa's room."
Yang Chunyan took it and said, "Village Chief Qu gave Grandpa two large bundles of tobacco leaves today."
"It's okay, just leave it there and let them smoke slowly!" Zhou Huaian said and looked at the time, "It's past twelve o'clock, and my brother and the others will be back soon. I don't know how much goods they can collect this time?"
"I haven't been there for a few days, so there should be more." Yang Chunyan went to the old man's room with tobacco leaves and cakes and put the things on the cabinet.
Zhou Huaian went to the backyard carrying the meat, a soft-bristle brush, and needle and thread. He saw Zhou's mother cooking and Xiao Jiuer lying in the cradle with a bulging belly. Jiang Yu and others were wiping their hands and preparing to go home for dinner.
He quickly put the paper bag on the table and said, "I brought you needles and thread. Divide them among yourselves!"
Jiang Yu picked it up and looked at it, then nodded happily, "The youngest one is really careful!"
Zhou Huaian waved his hand, "I brought it to you this time, but I won't bring it to you next time. The needlework salesman saw that I even knew the color number of the thread and thought I wanted to embroider insoles!"
Jiang Yu laughed after hearing this, "Hehe! Auntie will make you a pair of nice insoles." Zhou Huaian nodded with satisfaction, "That's good enough, I'm waiting!"
Zhou's mother glared at him in reproach, "Ignore him, Yumei just made him a few pairs, and they haven't been padded yet!"
"It's okay. Just cut one more pair and it will be done in a few days." Jiang Yu and others left with the aprons.
Mother Zhou looked at the meat and pork liver he brought back and said, "Your sister-in-law brought two pieces of fried pork. We'll have fried pork with green peppers for lunch. You can take the meat and hang it in the wine cellar for dinner."
Zhou Huaian picked up the meat and looked at the liver. "Where's the liver? If you don't eat it at noon, it will become fishy and not tasty in the afternoon."
"Leave the pork liver there. I'll pick some pickled peppers and ginger to stir-fry the pork liver." Mother Zhou said as she poured the green peppers into the pot and started stir-frying.
As Zhou Huaian came out of the wine cellar, a tractor rumbled into the backyard emitting black smoke. Xiao Jiuer, who was sleeping, burst into tears.
Mother Zhou quickly put down the plate, picked him up, pinched his ear and said softly, "Don't be afraid, Yaoyao, don't be afraid, it's Dad and the others who are back."
Zhou Huairong jumped off the tractor and asked, "Did you scare him?"
"Well!" Mother Zhou gently patted Xiao Jiu'er on the back, "Don't rush to unload the goods, eat first."
Zhou Huairong nodded, "That's fine, we're all starving."
"Mom, let me hold him, you hurry up and cook!" Zhou Huaian took his son and said, "Brother, how many kilograms did you harvest today?"
"More than 2,000 kilograms, and I brought you more than 20 kilograms of honey." Zhou Huairong handed him the bag and said, "The account book and the remaining money are all in it."
"Yes!" Zhou Huaian took over, "Tomorrow you go to Baicaoping and tell Brother Zhang Er to set a time. Wang Zhen will call the hospital in the provincial capital and we can go anytime."
"Good! His child is really pitiful. Other kids go up the mountain to pick mushrooms and so on, but he sits at the gate of the yard like an old man every day, watching those kids play and jump."
Zhou Huaian remembered Yang Chunyan's words, "It will be fine after the surgery."
Zhou Huairong nodded heavily, "The provincial capital's big hospital is so good, of course I can get well if I have surgery there!"
They all hope that things will get better, otherwise all the suffering that Zhang Laoer and his wife have endured over the years would have been in vain.
During the meal, Zhou's father said to Zhou Huaian and his brothers, "After dinner, your mother and the others will be cleaning up the red mushrooms at home. Let's go to the corn field to pick the corn. If we don't pick it now, the squirrels and ground mice will steal it all."
“Okay!” The older ones responded and started eating with big mouthfuls.
Zhou Huaian felt a headache just thinking about it. If it were him, he would rather use all those mountain lands to grow medicinal herbs. It was more cost-effective to buy corn and sorghum as public grain than to grow herbs.
After dinner, the old men took down the bamboo baskets and left with the baskets on their backs. Yang Chunyan and a few others began to cut the mushroom stems and wash them.
The whole family was busy until dark. Just after dinner, Zhou Yiding and Xu Erchun entered the yard and said, "Youngest, let's go."
"Wait a minute!" Zhou Huaian shouted as he put on his boots, "I've been busy all afternoon and just finished my meal."
"I'm the same. I've been picking corn all afternoon. If I hadn't gone to shoot birds, I would have gone to bed by now."
Zhou Yiding and his partner parked their bicycles and entered the main room. "Take your flashlight that has three batteries."
Zhou Huaian looked up, "Look, it's on the sewing machine."
Zhou Yiding took out a few batteries from his bag and said, "Replace some new batteries. Shine the bright electric light on the gray stork and it won't be able to fly."
Xu Erchun smiled and said, "Do you remember the time when we stole the old man's flashlight to shoot birds and were almost bitten by a bamboo snake?"
"How could I not remember? I was so scared that I almost died." Zhou Yiding tightened the base of the flashlight. "Go and take Da Huang with you later. If we encounter two old shuttlecocks, hehe! We can catch them and cook them into dragon and phoenix soup."
Zhou Huaian stood up and picked up the slingshot. "I told your sister-in-law when I got back that I was going to hunt birds and stew bamboo fungus. She also said that I was the only one who knew how to eat it, but in fact, you are the one who knows how to eat the best!"
"Hey, I brought all the stones I found last time." Zhou Yiding said as he grabbed a handful of stones and gave them to him. "Let's go. Now is a good time to go."
"I'll go tell your sister-in-law." Zhou Huaian went to the backyard, "Yan'er, let's go!"
Yang Chunyan nodded, thought about it and said, "Take the snake medicine with you, and sprinkle some floral water to prevent mosquito bites."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian turned and left.
Jiang Yu and the others laughed and said, "What is the dark youngest doing?"
Yang Chunyan put the red mushrooms in a bamboo basket and "went with Yiding to hunt gray storks and turtledoves, saying that they were going to stew bamboo fungus for dinner."
Jiang Yu: "You young people are more energetic. If we were to break corn for the whole afternoon, we wouldn't even want to move when we get home."
Zhao Huifang: "The youngest one used to be like this. No matter how tired he was after work, as long as there were people outside talking to him, he would immediately be more energetic than anyone else."
The old man smoking a cigarette beside him laughed and said, "That's right! I've been like this since I was a child. Whenever someone tells me to fish, I run faster than anyone else."
Over there, Zhou Huaian and the other two had already ridden their bicycles onto the main road. Zhou Yiding turned his head and said, "I heard that Fangtian will be showing a movie in a few days."
Zhou Huaian: "What movie is playing?"
Zhou Yiding: "A river of spring water flows eastward, Dream of the Red Chamber!"
Zhou Huaian curled his lips, "I've seen it before in the town's cinema. They were all very old movies. What's so good about them?"
Xu Erchun said with a smile: "We don't have any TV to watch here, and the TV is a bit old, so let's just watch what we can!"
“That’s right!”
As they were talking, the three had already arrived at Zhou Yiding's house. Bicycles were valuable these days, so the three did not dare to leave them on the roadside and go into the woods. So they left the bicycles at his house, led Dahuang and walked straight out of the village towards Xinhe.
A few minutes later, the three of them walked downhill along the river, and a cool river breeze blew over.
Zhou Huaian sighed: "It's better to come to the river to cool off!"
Xu Erchun: "I think your wine cellar is the best. It's cool and there are no mosquitoes."
Zhou Yiding: "Erchun, you should make one too!"
Xu Erchun: "The youngest brother uses it to make truffle wine. I don't make wine, so why spend that money?"
Zhou Yiding gave him a slight turn and winked at him, "Brother, let me tell you, you've been sleeping in there for the past few days, it's been so comfortable!"
"I know!" Xu Erchun said with a smile, "You know more than me."
"I didn't dig a wine cellar, so why do I have so many tricks?" Zhou Yiding said as he shone the flashlight towards Zhou Huaian, "Here are the tricks!"
"Damn it, get away from me..." Zhou Huaian flew up and kicked him in the butt.
"Oh my goodness, my kingdom..." Zhou Yiding screamed while covering his butt.
"Haha!" Xu Erchun laughed, "The country is still here!"
Zhou Yiding counterattacked fiercely, "Look at my series of fatal kicks!"
Zhou Huaian dodged and said, "Hurry up, if you keep making trouble, it will be daybreak, what are you going to do?"
"Hehe, just hit that bird!" (End of this chapter)
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