Chapter 73: Going up the mountain to find money
Zhou's mother and the others also came out with a smile, "Have you sold out all the herbs?"
"Hmm!" Yang Chunyan took out the plastic sandals, "I guess the ones I bought might be a little big."
"Wow, so beautiful!" Zhou Xiaoru and others jumped for joy when they saw the pink transparent plastic sandals.
"Looks great, I don't have to pick up my brother's old shoes to wear this year!"
"I have new shoes too, so I don't have to wear my sister's old shoes."
Zhou Jiaming and the other boys were wearing khaki-colored bull-nose sandals. Each of them picked up a pair and wouldn't let go.
Yang Chunyan was also very happy when she saw the happy faces of the children!
Zhou Xiaoqian and Zhou Jiaming each came over with a basin of water, "Dad, Auntie, wash your faces." After saying that, they squatted down impatiently to choose the size that suited them.
Little Zhou Xiaolin held a pair of pink sandals and pulled Li Qiuyue, "Mom, I want to wear new shoes."
Li Qiuyue glanced at Yang Chunyan sheepishly and said with a smile: "Thank you, Auntie, Daddy!"
Zhou Xiaolin thanked him in a baby voice and put on her shoes.
Zhao Huifang smiled and rubbed her head, "Look, even a tiny little person can become pretty."
"Don't I want to look good?" Zhou's mother looked at the sandals with both heartache and joy. "It's okay if they're a little bigger. I can wear them for two more years."
Zhang Xiuxiang looked at Yang Chunyan and the other person and said embarrassedly, "Chunyan, how can I let you spend money to buy it? I will deduct the money and return it to you when we divide the money later."
"That's right, we'll deduct the money later!" Zhao Huifang and Li Qiuyue also said.
Yang Chunyan gave them a reproachful look and said, "I bought this for Jiaming and the others. If you want to buy more, go buy them yourself."
"Okay, I won't say anything."
Zhang Xiuxiang smiled and patted Zhou Jiakang who was putting the sandals on his feet, "You guys should thank Auntie and Father quickly!"
"Thank you, Dad and Aunt!" Several children looked up and thanked them.
Yang Chunyan looked at the happy little faces and felt that the money was worth it.
Mother Zhou thought about it and said, "When you go out, tell them that your father sold the eels and bought them for you. Do you understand?"
"Got it!" Several children responded in unison.
Yang Chunyan said to Zhao Huifang and the others, "I'll go change my clothes and I'll give you the money."
"It's okay. You can get it after dinner."
Yang Chunyan smiled and went back to the house, took off her waist bag, changed into her home clothes, took out the money and bills for the three people, put the money in her waist bag away, and went to the main room with the money and bills.
"Sister-in-law, this is the money from today's sales. Divide it among yourselves."
"Great!" Zhao Huifang took it happily, "Thank you, youngest brother, Chunyan!"
Zhou Huaian said with a smile: "Why thank you? This is what you deserve!"
Li Qiuyue looked at the two of them and said with an unnatural look: "Chunyan, the Magnolia officinalis on the mountain is gone too. Where can we dig herbs now?"
After being scolded by Zhou Huaishan last night, she was called into the room by her mother-in-law and mother-in-law this morning. She was worried that Chunyan and the other two would really not take her into the mountains to collect herbs. She was also worried that she would become like her brother and sister-in-law from her mother's family.
Zhou Huaian glanced at her calmly and said, "Chunyan, take a rest at home this afternoon. I'll go into the mountains to look for her."
Li Qiuyue smiled apologetically, "Chunyan's eyes are all dark, she should rest for two days!"
Zhao Huifang thought for a moment and said, "Youngest, there are definitely no Magnolia officinalis trees on the nearby hills. We have never seen any when we went into the mountains to pick mushrooms in previous years."
Zhang Xiuxiang also said: "We haven't seen it either. The ones in the shallow mountains may have been cut down by the land reclamation workers."
"It's okay, I'll go into the mountains to look for it this afternoon!"
At this time, Zhou's mother came over with two bowls of rice, "Eat first!"
"Eat, I'm hungry." Zhou Huaian picked up a bowl of sorghum rice and started eating.
At noon, there were cold-mixed sweet potato tips, fried salted vegetables with oil residue, and sauerkraut potato soup.
Yang Chunyan scooped a few spoonfuls of soup into the bowl and started eating it in big mouthfuls.
Zhou’s sauerkraut is made from cabbage sprouts and cabbage, which are dried and then cut into short sections, blanched and pickled in rice soup.
The sauerkraut pickled in rice soup is golden in color and looks very appetizing.
Take it out and squeeze out excess water, spread it out to dry in a winnowing basket. After it is dry, put it in an oilcloth bag and tie the bag. You can eat it all year long without going bad.
The potato soup cooked with dried sauerkraut has a light sour taste and the fragrance of potatoes. It is appetizing and thirst-quenching.
Zhou Huaian ate two large bowls of rice, wiped his mouth, and said to Yang Chunyan: "I'm going to go up the mountain to find Erchun."
Yang Chunyan nodded, "Don't go too far!"
"Youngest," Zhou's mother warned worriedly, "don't tell anything to outsiders."
"Got it!"
Zhou Huaian went back to the house, changed his clothes, put gloves, urea bags, machete, medicine hoe, bamboo pole and water bottle into the backpack, then thought about it and got a bunch of firewood and put it in the backpack. He walked to the gate of the yard, put it down, and went out to Xu Erchun's house.
When he arrived at the gate of Xu Erchun's house, he put his fingers into his mouth and whistled. After a while, Xu Erchun ran out and asked, "Where have you been these two days?"
Zhou Huaian hesitated for a moment and said, "My brother and I went to catch some eels, and our family also picked some corn and gave it to Ning An to sell."
"Are the eels in Ning'an priced well?"
"It's better than in town. I sell it to vendors for 38 cents a pound!"
"You're still not satisfied with 38 cents a pound. That day I had some fish weighing 150 grams that were only sold for 30 cents a pound. I waited all morning to sell the smaller ones."
"The price in the city is good. My corn will be available for sale the day after tomorrow. If you bring it to me, I'll help you take Ning An to sell it."
"Yes, I went to Hengshan yesterday and bought about ten pounds last night. I plan to buy some more tonight for Baima tomorrow. It would be great if you could help me take Ning An to sell."
Zhou Huaian glanced at him and said, "Your kid didn't even call me when he was looking at eels!" He then realized that everyone was making money, but he was the only one wandering around...
Xu Erchun rolled his eyes at him and said, "You are a man who values women over friendship. How dare you say that to me? The last time I asked you to take pictures of eels, you said you wanted to accompany your wife!"
"Why don't I accompany my wife to accompany you?" Zhou Huaian looked at him and smiled evilly, "You are a bachelor, what do you know!"
"Tsk tsk!" Xu Erchun rolled his eyes. "Men with wives are truly amazing!"
Zhou Huaian hugged him and said, "Stop talking nonsense, let's go call Dakuan and Ermei to go to Nanshan to look for wild honey!"
"Yes, if we sell it in Nong Ning'an, the price will definitely be higher than in town."
Zhou Huaian looked at him mysteriously, "The day before yesterday, I accompanied my wife to the mountains to collect herbs and found a nest of old honey. Can you guess how much I got from Ning An for selling it per pound?"
Xu Erchun looked at him. "Four dollars and eighty cents a pound?"
"Guess again!"
"Five dollars and two cents at most!"
"Old honeycomb is 6.8 yuan, which is 2.5 yuan more per pound."
"My God, how did you get such a good price?"
"The doctor who used to take care of my father-in-law, Chunyan, said that they needed this kind of old nest honey to make medicine."
"Yes, I will ask you to bring Ning An to sell wild honey when I find it next time!"
"No problem!"
"Let's go find Ermei and Dakuan and go up the mountain to look for money!" Xu Erchun put his arm around him, and the two of them went to Cai Ermei's house laughing and whistling.
Cai Ermei's wife Wang Chunhua came out and saw the two of them. Her face darkened immediately, "Ermei is not here."
Xu Erchun glanced at Zhou Huaian, dragged him away, and muttered quietly, "He already has a face like a pig's kidney, and his face is dark every day. It's better to marry a wife like this than to marry my fifth daughter!"
Zhou Huaian slapped him and said with a smile: "Qinggouzi kid, you know nothing!"
"I don't understand, but you do!" Xu Erchun paused and looked at Zhou Huaian, "I know where Cai Ermei went!"
"Looking at your mysterious look, he couldn't have gone to steal someone, right?"
(End of this chapter)
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