Zhou Huaian and his colleagues were busy until after eleven o'clock, and finally sent the last villager away. Several bamboo baskets more than one person tall on the truck bed were already filled to the brim.
Zhou Yiding looked into the basket and found about twenty to thirty kilograms of white truffles.
Secretary Xu looked at the account book and said, "Youngest brother, the total weight is more than 7,000 kilograms. Can the tractor pull it?"
Zhou Huaian looked at the steep slope and said, "This is a new model that was released this year. It can pull the load, but everyone needs to get off the machine and push harder when climbing the slope."
"That's right!"
Zhou Yiding said with a smile: "Youngest brother, when we earn enough money, we can buy a four-wheel tractor like the ones in the forest farm. It will be no problem to carry ten tons at a time."
Zhou Huaian: "Last time, Brother Huang said that it was hard to buy a walk-behind scooter, and even harder to buy a four-wheeled scooter. He said that the brick kiln factory ordered one and it took half a year to deliver it."
Zhou Huairong came over with a steel pot, "Youngest, go get a pot of water to cook noodles."
Secretary Zhang said hurriedly, "Old Xu, we are already home, so why are we eating outside? I have already prepared the food at home. Let's all go to my house for a simple meal."
Secretary Xu patted him on the shoulder and said, "Lao Zhang, I appreciate your kindness, but I won't be polite if I'm alone. Next time, I'll definitely go next time."
There is little food in the mountains, and so many people will consume a lot of food in one meal.
Zhou Huaian also stepped forward with a smile, "Secretary Zhang, thank you for your kindness! My wife specially made some pickled cabbage sauce, which goes really well with the noodles. Why don't you eat here with us?"
Secretary Xu looked at him and said, "That's right, you should eat here too and try the pickled cabbage and sauerkraut noodles."
Secretary Zhang waved his hands repeatedly, "How can this be so embarrassing? You come to my place and I want you to treat me to a meal."
At this time, several people ran down the slope. Li Laoer, who was running in the front, waved his hands and shouted, "Wait a minute, my house hasn't been weighed yet!"
Secretary Zhang's face darkened immediately after seeing this. "Look, everyone has been waiting here since early morning, but his family is not in a hurry at all. People have delivered money to their doorsteps, but they don't know how to go out and earn money early. Money won't fall from the sky."
Secretary Xu also felt that it was outrageous. "In our village, even Xu Hongbing and his mother go up the mountain to dig truffles before dawn every day. This family is not eager to seize such a good opportunity to make money. There is no hope for them."
Secretary Zhang: "It's not just Li Lao Er, all the brothers are like that. They just complain about being poor, not having enough food, and not having money to marry. They complain that their rich relatives are cruel and don't help them, but their money didn't come from the wind."
Zhao Huifang put the straw mat back on and whispered, "It seems that the Li family has said a lot of bad things about the third brother and his wife. Qiuyue is unlucky to have such an uncle."
Zhang Xiuxiang nodded, "Qiuyue is smart enough to decisively cut off contact with them. Otherwise, if you get involved with a leech like this, you won't be able to get away without bleeding!"
When Li Lao Er ran over and saw that it was the Zhou family, his eyes lit up and he stepped forward with a shameless face, "Oh! It turns out that it is my brother-in-law and sister-in-law who are collecting it!"
Zhou Huaijun pointed at the straw mat calmly, "Pour it here!"
After hearing this, Li Laoer turned his head and looked at the girl who was about 17 or 18 years old who was following with a basket on her back, and shouted, "Meizhen, hurry up!"
"Here they come!" Li Meizhen hurried forward and poured the truffles in the basket onto the straw mat. It was a small pile, not as much as what the villagers on Funiu's side dug.
Li Laoer saw that several people had picked out a lot of truffles, and stepped forward distressedly, "Brother-in-law and sister-in-law, why can't we collect these truffles?"
Zhao Huifang picked up a rotten truffle and said, "We don't accept rotten ones or those eaten by insects."
Li Laoer looked at the truffles she had picked out, which were quite large, and said, "What's the big deal if they get rotten? Just wash them and they'll be fine!"
Li Er's wife picked up a piece and said distressedly: "Brother-in-law and sister-in-law, we are not outsiders, so don't be picky and just take them all!"
Mrs. Li looked at the truffles in her basket and helped to speak up: "That's right, we are not outsiders, so why are you so picky?" She looked around and said, "Where is Qiuyue..."
Secretary Zhang stepped forward and scolded him, "Li Laoer, stop making trouble here! Take your family members to see the notice posted on the wall before you come back."
Li Laoer licked his face and smiled: "Secretary Zhang, Qiuyue married into their family, we are not outsiders."
Secretary Zhang felt so embarrassed that he glared at a few people, "..."
Zhou Huaian said mercilessly: "My third sister-in-law has severed ties with you a long time ago, so stop trying to make friends with her."
Li Meizhen glanced at Zhou Huaian and quickly lowered her head.
Li Laoer and the others looked at him with red faces, "Brother-in-law, you..."
Zhou Huaian said calmly: "If you want to sell it, follow the rules. If you don't want to sell it, take it back."
Zhao Huifang and Zhang Xiuxiang both stood up after hearing this and said, "If you don't want to sell it, just take it!"
Li Lao Er leaned forward and said repeatedly: "Sell, sell, sell!"
Zhou Yiding curled his lips, a typical dog sitting in a basket and ungrateful!
The two brothers had only 40-odd pounds of truffles in total, and it didn't take them long to pick out the bad ones, sort them into different grades, and weigh them.
Zhou Huaian gave the money to the two of them, and Li Laoer and Li Da's wife took the money and left happily.
Secretary Zhang took Secretary Xu home to fetch water.
Zhou Huaijun found a few stones and built a simple earthen stove next to the campfire. When the water came, he lit the firewood and started cooking.
After a while, Secretary Zhang brought some pea tips and a pot of rabbit meat, "Zhou Laoyao, if you don't want to go home to eat, this smoked rabbit meat will be a side dish for you!"
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian took it and put it on the table. "Secretary Zhang, you can also have a bowl of noodles here."
Secretary Zhang was about to refuse, but Zhou Yiding stopped him and said, "Secretary Zhang, how many wild animals are there in your forest?"
"A lot! Not to mention pheasants and rabbits." Secretary Xu pointed to the snow-capped mountains, "In the old forests above, there are also a lot of wild boars, old bears, musk deer... these."
"We sometimes hunted wild animals and collected some herbs to sell in town to supplement our family income. After searching for a long time, we only recognized those few species, and they couldn't be sold for much money."
After hearing this, Zhou Huaian thought about the past few months of collecting herbs, and he realized that those inconspicuous "weeds" and "wild vines" were herbs.
Even if they recognize them, like the Gastrodia elata and Codonopsis pilosula sent by Qu Qiulin and others, they will be wasted because they don’t know how to dry them.
Zhou Yiding saw that he didn't say anything, so he nudged him and said, "Youngest brother, are you here to visit before the New Year?"
Zhou Huaian nodded, "Okay, get some wild animals to take home for the New Year."
He remembered that Huang Yongcai said that rich people and high-ranking officials all liked to eat wild animals. If they could get rare ones like musk deer and wild deer, he would ask Wang Zhen to send some to the boss in the provincial capital.
After hearing this, Secretary Zhang said, "My second son likes to wander around in the woods when he has nothing to do. If you come, come to my house. I will let my second son take you into the mountains."
"Thank you, Secretary Zhang."
Over there, Zhang Xiuxiang put a porcelain bowl on the desk, scooped up the sauce, cooked chili oil, and poured some pepper oil, soy sauce, and chopped green onions into the porcelain bowl with a spoon.
A spoonful of noodle soup was poured into the bowl, and the aroma immediately filled the air. The noodles, as wide as leek leaves, were picked up into the bowl, and steam rose from them.
"Let's eat!" Zhang Xiuxiang shouted. The two sisters-in-law each took a bowl and handed it to Secretary Xu and Secretary Zhang respectively. "If the taste is not good enough, add more yourself."
"Great, great!" The two of them took it to the brigade meeting room, sat down and started eating.
"I want it spicier." Zhou Huaian added a spoonful of cooked chili oil to the bowl of noodles and poured some pepper oil. Just as he was about to pick it up to eat, Zhou Yiding snatched it away.
"Good fellow, there are so many on the table and you don't want to eat them, but you insist on snatching mine."
Zhou Yiding confidently pouted at the bowl of noodles on the desk, "There are still so many, why don't you just make another bowl!"
Zhou Huaian rolled his eyes at him, "Lazy people don't care too much!"
"Tsk~Big brother, don't talk about second brother!"
Zhou Yiding mixed it all in two or three steps. The boiling hot noodles were very chewy, the sauerkraut, sauce and pork belly were spicy, sour and fragrant, and the tender pea tips were fragrant and refreshing. After taking a bite, I felt warm in my stomach and the sense of satisfaction was instantly overwhelming.
"It's delicious! I'll ask my sister-in-law to make me a pot of it when I go back and cook noodles with it."
Zhou Huaian, who was squatting next to him, nodded smugly, "Don't you even look at who did it?"
After finishing a full bowl of noodles and drinking up even the soup, everyone put down their bowls and chopsticks in satisfaction.
The three women collected the dishes, washed them quickly, and stacked them in the basket.
Zhou Huaian and his brothers used ropes to tie up the bamboo baskets. After putting a few large bamboo baskets in the truck bed, there was still a little space at the rear of the truck.
"Sister-in-law and cousin will sit in the back of the truck bed, and you guys will have to sit on the iron plates on both sides of the truck bed."
"It's okay, you clear this section of the road first, and I'll drive."
Zhou Huaian took the crank and started the tractor. "Uncle Xu, let's go. Secretary Zhang, we'll come at the same time the day after tomorrow."
"Okay!" Secretary Zhang responded loudly.
After Secretary Xu shook hands and said goodbye to his old comrade, he sat next to Zhou Huaian, and the tractor rumbled up the slope.
Zhou Huairong and three others followed behind. When they were almost at the top of the slope, the tractor was emitting black smoke and its speed was getting slower and slower. Secretary Xu also jumped off the tractor.
Several people pushed the tractor and shouted slogans, slowly climbing to the top of the slope, then jumped onto the iron plate and sat down holding the rope.
“Oh my god~” Zhou Yiding almost jumped off the tractor in pain, grimacing, “My skin is broken again!”
"Hahaha..." Zhou Huaian laughed with gloating, "I've already had my skin broken, it would be unreasonable for you not to have your skin broken!"
"Stinky youngest!"
Most of the way down the mountain is downhill. In some places, there are long downhill slopes for five or six kilometers, with a height difference of more than one hundred meters.
When Zhou Huaian encountered a downhill slope, he turned off the engine and glided in neutral. He felt the feeling of wind in his ears was very enjoyable. But now the tractor is fully loaded with truffles, and the braking performance is not good after loading. He is worried that he will not be able to stop when going downhill, so he has to hold the brakes and go down slowly.
Zhou Huairong and others helped push the tractor several times before it finally reached the asphalt road.
Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding both had bitter faces, "What should we do? Our butts may not be healed before the end of the year!"
Zhao Huifang thought for a moment and said, "I'll go back and get some old cotton wool to make a butt pad for you. Tie it on your body when you come out, and you won't have to worry about the pad falling off."
After hearing this, the two nodded happily, "This is a good idea, let's do it right away when we get back." (End of this chapter)
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