Chapter 102 Chapter 101: It’s a bit expensive (two chapters in one)
At the Zhou family, one child poured the weighed eels into a bucket, and another took the money Zhou Huaian handed over, "Youngest brother, do you always want to collect eels?"
Zhou Huaian nodded, "I've been collecting them all the time, just take them."
"Yes, we will send it over tomorrow."
Zhou Huaian watched the two brothers walk out and took a look at the notebook. They had collected more than 80 kilograms of eels in the morning. He thought that if he could make a few cents per kilogram, he could make a few dollars a day.
The four brothers each got two yuan, and they earned several dozen yuan a month.
You can make money just by sitting at home, and it makes you happy just thinking about it.
"Zhou Laoyao, I heard that your family is collecting eels?" A boy came in carrying a wooden bucket.
Zhou Huaian looked up, "Cai Qing, if you want to collect it, bring it over for me to see."
Cai Qing came forward with the wooden bucket, "I weighed it at home and it's 16 kilograms, take a look."
Zhou Huaian glanced at him and said with a smile, "Don't worry, your scale will not be less!" He took out the eels from the bucket and took a look, pointing at a few that were too thin, "We give 2.8 cents per pound, we don't want small ones like these."
When Cai Qing heard that it was indeed 28 cents per pound, he said happily, "I'll take the small one back. Can I get the money today?"
"I'll pay you after you weigh it!" Zhou Huaian said as he picked up the beam scale and weighed the basket at his feet before letting him put the eel into the basket. "Except for the skin, there are still 15 jin and 3 liang."
Cai Qing looked at the beam scale Zhou Huaian was holding, then at the few small yellow eels in his bucket, and felt that the weight should be correct, "Okay, I'll help you pour it into the bucket."
"Yes!" Zhou Huaian calculated it, washed his hands in the basin beside him, and then took out the money from his pocket, "Cai Qing, can you calculate it? Is it 4.28 yuan?"
Cai Qing drew on the ground with a stick for a while, then looked up at him, "That's right."
Zhou Huaian gave him the money and asked, "What has your brother been doing these days? Why haven't you seen him?"
"Him!" Cai Qing paused, looked around and said, "My second brother and Widow Ye opened a consignment store together. Didn't you know?"
Zhou Huaian shook his head, "I don't know, I haven't seen him for a long time."
"Oh! Then I'll go back first. I'll send you some eels next time."
"Yes, take care!" Before Zhou Huaian finished speaking, he saw Yang Chunyan and others walking in. "You guys are back? Did you pick up any matsutake or hericium?"
Li Qiuyue rolled her eyes at him, "You're just daydreaming. We didn't go deep into the mountains, so how could we pick up matsutake and hericium?"
"If you're lucky, you can pick it up outside."
"Chunyan picked up some morels!" Zhang Xiuxiang said as she looked around, "Where are mom and the kids?"
Hearing that Yang Chunyan had picked up morels, Zhou Huaian hurried over to take a look and said, "They all went to the brick kiln to help clean up."
Yang Chunyan and the others put down their baskets and asked, "Huai'an, did you catch a lot of eels?"
Zhou Huaian proudly picked up the notebook and said, "With the extra 10 pounds I just added, it's now a hundred pounds."
Zhang Xiuxiang looked back at him, "Including what we collected last night, there are already 130 or 140. Can Ning An sell all these eels?"
"Don't worry, we'll send more than ten kilograms to the guesthouse." Zhou Huaian said as he picked up the red mushrooms in the basket, "Which one is so good? I picked up all the poisonous mushrooms."
"I picked it up!" Yang Chunyan said as she took the eggs out of the basket on her back. "Sister-in-law, help me get half a basin of water."
When Zhou Huaian saw that it was Yang Chunyan who picked it up, he stopped asking questions, took a fir egg, looked at it, and said:
"Yan'er, I know where this stuff came from! Yiding, Erchun and I went to look for a chicken mushroom nest, but we didn't see any chicken mushrooms, just some dry wood sticks. Yiding said there might be treasures underneath, so we dug for a long time and found a few black charcoal balls.
My family broke one open and took two bites. The one I ate was white inside and tasted a little sweet. The one Yi Ding broke open was yellow inside and tasted terrible. I showed it to my grandfather and he called it a chicken mushroom egg!
Yang Chunyan smiled and nodded, "People here call it chicken fir egg, and the books call it black ginseng, thunder jellyfish..."
Zhou Huaian suddenly realized, "No wonder our chicken mushroom nest has turned into a dead stick."
Zhao Huifang quickly brought over a basin of water, and Yang Chunyan put the cleaned eggs into the water. After a while, more than half of them sank to the bottom of the water, and six or seven and a half were still floating in the water.
Li Qiuyue asked curiously: "Yan'er, is it better to sink to the bottom of the water or float up?"
"Those that sink to the bottom are good. Those that float are already old." Yang Chunyan picked up the half-floating chicken fir eggs. "Third sister-in-law, you and third brother will send Ning An to Doctor Wang tomorrow."
"You're not going?"
"You can find it too, so I won't go."
Li Qiuyue was worried after hearing this, "The youngest one won't go, and you won't go either, so how can the third one and I do it?"
Zhou Huaian looked at her with a smile, "Third sister-in-law, bring out your scolding spirit, I guarantee you will be invincible!"
"Stinky youngest!" Li Qiuyue also laughed after saying that, and squatted down to pick out the mushrooms from the basket with Yang Chunyan.
No one buys miscellaneous mushrooms these days, so people usually keep them for themselves. The Alpinia hortensis, chanterelles, and bigfoot mushrooms are sold to supplement the family income.
Zhao Huifang tied her apron and said to the others, "Xiuxiang, Chunyan and I will go cook, you and Qiuyue wash the mushrooms and stir-fry them for lunch. Wrap the stems of the Altissima with ginger and taro leaves, and break off some cabbage leaves to cover them, so they won't wilt."
"Okay, I'll go to the back and cut some ginger and taro leaves." Zhang Xiuxiang said as she stood up, picked up the sickle and walked towards the backyard.
Yang Chunyan went to the kitchen to get a colander and went to the vegetable garden to pick green and red peppers.
Zhou Huaian walked to the edge of the vegetable field with a wooden stick, "Yan'er, Erchun brought a message that Lao Xiazi agreed to sell the sand gun to me."
Yang Chunyan stopped and walked to the edge of the vegetable field. "How much does he want?"
Zhou Huaian whispered, "One hundred and twenty. He said his gun has a license and he has some bullets at home. Give them all to me."
“So expensive?”
Zhou Huaian leaned forward and said, "It's a bit expensive, but his is a sand gun, and it has a license. Also, Lao Xiazi is one-eyed, and his leg was crippled by a bear. He's old, lame, blind, and a five-guarantee household. It looks like he has committed a sin. We're still young, so let's just buy it as a good deed."
He paused, "Yan'er, with the sand gun, we can go further and find more good things. We will earn back the money we spent on the gun."
"How did the old shrimp go blind?"
“I heard that he had fought in the army before liberation and his eyes were blinded at that time.
When he came back, he found that his mother and father were all dead. He was blind in one eye and had a scar on his face. He never found a wife and remained single his whole life!"
Yang Chunyan nodded after hearing this and said, "Then buy it!"
Zhou Huaian looked at her with a smile in his eyes, "I knew you would agree! When Erchun comes in the afternoon, I will give him the money."
"Yeah!" Yang Chunyan looked at him and asked softly, "Does your leg still hurt this morning?"
Zhou Huaian crossed his legs and said, "It doesn't hurt. I didn't exert much force this morning."
"Wait till I pick the chili peppers and wipe them with iodine so you can get better faster."
"Yes, I'll go pour some water into the eel bucket."
Zhou Huaian scooped two scoops of water from the ravine and put it into the bucket where the eels were raised. He stopped pouring the water as soon as it covered the eels. He went to check another bucket and added half a scoop of water into it.
I was thinking of picking up some stones and building a pond in the backyard, and then planting some aquatic plants in it, so that the eels should be able to survive longer.
Yang Chunyan picked some chili peppers and green peppers, went back to the kitchen, took a clove of garlic, and sat down to peel it.
Zhang Xiuxiang brought back a handful of ginger and taro leaves, and together with Li Qiuyue, scraped off some of the mud on the stems of the chicken mushroom. They divided the stems into a dozen or so pieces, wrapped them with ginger and taro, covered them with cabbage leaves, and put them in a cool place.
Mother Zhou carried Zhou Xiaolin on her back, held Zhou Jiakang's hand, and walked into the yard with a basket of young pumpkins. When she saw Yang Chunyan and the others, she smiled and said, "You're back! What mushrooms did you pick up?"
Li Qiuyue held up the big chicken mushroom that Yang Chunyan had picked up. "There were several morels, more than ten kilograms of chicken mushrooms, and the one Chunyan picked up weighed more than one kilogram."
"Oh~ This one should be able to sell for a good price."
Several children rushed to the basket and picked up the mushrooms inside. "These are brush mushrooms, trumpet mushrooms..."
Zhou Xiaoru picked up one and said, "I like eating milk mushrooms, they are crispy and sweet."
Zhou Xiaowen corrected, "This is a yellow umbrella..."
Mother Zhou put Zhou Xiaolin down and said cheerfully, "We have cleaned up the cave entrance. Your husband called Liu the cave craftsman to have a look. He said that it was still in good condition and could be used after a little cleaning. He helped to clean up for a long time and invited him to our house for lunch at noon."
Zhang Xiuxiang hurriedly said, "Sister-in-law and Chunyan are cooking, let them add some rice."
"I'll go take a look." Mother Zhou arrived at the kitchen and saw Yang Chunyan scraping the fungi and the rice was already in the pot. "Huifang, Liu the potter will come to eat at noon, scoop an extra bowl of rice into the pot. Fry two more delicious dishes."
Zhao Huifang thought for a moment and said, "Stir-fry two pots of mushrooms, cut a piece of meat and stir-fry with lettuce and garlic sprouts, and boil the pig tongue and make a cold dish to go with the wine."
"Okay!" Zhou's mother also sat down to help scrape the mushrooms.
The mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law scraped and washed the milk fungus, brush fungus..., blanched them, and filtered out the water.
Yang Chunyan cut a handful of chili peppers and a handful of garlic. When stir-frying the mushrooms, you have to put more garlic cloves and chili peppers to make them taste fresh, spicy and flavorful.
Zhou's mother took out the last bit of bacon and said, "Let's just fry it and eat it, so we don't have to leave it hanging there to be seen."
Zhao Huifang smiled and said, "Have you finished eating the bacon that Yumei sent?"
"We've finished eating!" Zhou's mother said happily, "When the house is repaired in the second half of the year, we'll save a big fat pig and kill it for ourselves."
"Killing a big fat pig, really?" Zhao Huifang joked with a smile, "Shouldn't our second house have a big fat year this year?"
"Alas!" Zhou's mother sighed, "I feel sad when I think of the New Year. I have raised fat pigs for decades, but I have never eaten the fat pigs I raised myself."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "Don't worry, Mom, I promise that you will eat the big fat pigs raised by our family during the Chinese New Year.
I tell you, Huai'an collected more than 100 kilograms of eels in this morning. If he could collect this much every day, the money he earned in a month would be enough to kill two big fat pigs."
Zhou's mother shook her head. "I tell you, the eel business won't last long. As long as someone in the team sees that we are making money by collecting eels, someone will follow suit. If you offer 28 cents, someone will offer 29 cents. If this goes on for a while, there will be no way to make a living."
After hearing this, Yang Chunyan thought about it and gave Zhou's mother a thumbs up, "Mom is still thinking ahead. No wonder people say that old ginger is still spicy!"
"It's not spicy at all, it's just that I've heard and seen too much." Zhou's mother took the pig's tongue out of the pot and said, "Leave it to you two to make a cold dish. I'll go call your husband back for dinner."
"Yes!" Zhao Huifang took it and cut it into pieces for a cold dish.
Seeing that the pot was already hot, Yang Chunyan put the bacon in the hot pot, roasted the skin, scraped off the burnt skin, rubbed it clean with hot water, and sliced it.
Put the greasy fat into the pot to extract the oil, then pour a little rapeseed oil into the pot. After the bubbles in the pot have dispersed, add the lean meat and stir-fry for a few times. Then add the chili peppers and garlic and stir-fry until they are flavorful, and then pour the miscellaneous mushrooms into the pot.
It’s so delicious to cook in a big pot on a clay stove. After stir-frying over high heat for a few times, the fresh and spicy aroma will hit your nose.
Then stir-fry the lettuce and meat slices, the pork with garlic sprouts, and the stir-fried vine vegetables. After the vegetables are cooked, the radish soup is also ready.
The two sisters-in-law set up a table on the steps, arranged the dishes in the main room, and took out a small jar of wine and put it on the table.
Just as it was done, Zhou Jiaming and a few others who were at school came back with the workers.
Liu the potter was a short old man in his sixties. The bricks and tiles he made were famous in this area, and almost all the kilns in the Funiu and Fangtian brigades would ask him for help.
After Zhou's mother fetched water for several people to wash, Zhou's father invited Liu the potter to the table, "Brother Liu, please take a seat!"
When Liu the Potter saw the dishes on the table, he was happy and said politely, "Dasong, we have been friends for decades. We can just have a simple meal. Why are you spending so much money?"
"Brother Liu, you know the situation of my family. These are ours. The day before yesterday, the youngest and the others went up the mountain and encountered a wounded wild boar. It cut a big hole in the youngest's foot, and we killed it."
"You're lucky. If you weren't injured, it would be difficult for a few strong men to take down a wild boar!"
"That's right, thanks to the mountain god for blessing!"
Zhou Huairong filled the glasses for both of them, "Uncle Liu, old man, we've been busy all afternoon and are tired. Let's talk while we eat."
"Okay, Brother Liu, you're welcome, start eating!"
"Yes, yes!"
Father Zhou and Potter Liu picked up their chopsticks and started eating.
On the steps, Zhou's mother, Yang Chunyan and several sisters-in-law sat at the same table with the children. Looking at the children eating heartily, the hungry people felt that the mixed grain rice in their bowls tasted better than usual.
Yang Chunyan picked up a few pieces of mushrooms and ate them. She found them fresh, spicy and delicious. The mushrooms in this season tasted really good. She thought that the chicken mushroom was just famous. Many other mushrooms tasted just as good after being fried.
Zhou Jiaming put down his chopsticks and touched his bulging belly. "Mom, tomorrow is Sunday. Let's go up the mountain to pick mushrooms with you guys."
Zhao Huifang glared at him, "None of you are allowed to go up the mountain. Today, Xu Xiaozhen followed her sister-in-law up the mountain to pick mushrooms and was bitten by a bamboo shoot. Fortunately, your aunt brought snake medicine, otherwise we wouldn't be able to get down the mountain."
Zhou Jialiang muttered quietly, "Just because she encountered a bamboo shoot, it doesn't mean we will encounter one too!"
(End of this chapter)
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