Gao Mingcheng and Chen Dasong each carried a honey extractor, while Chen Duoxi followed behind with two honey-cutting knives and a basin, with a happy face.
Chen Duoxi, who loves sweets, likes the job of cutting and shaking honey very much because she can at least have a taste of honey.
Every time after shaking and filtering the honey, there will always be some residual honey with residue left, which can also be eaten.
The more than 40 beehives in the house were not placed together, but in three places. Chen Duofu first took them to the nearest place, which was the valley between Xiaofu Mountain and Niuweiling.
In June, with birds singing and flowers blooming everywhere, it is the time of the year when honey is produced the most.
The honey extractor was placed under the shade of a tree three or four meters away from the beehive. Chen Duofu and Gao Mingcheng opened the beehive and took out the honeycombs. In a beehive, there were as few as seven or eight honeycombs, and as many as twelve or thirteen. Both sides of each honeycomb were crowded with bees.
After the honeycomb is pulled out, some bees will be frightened and fly away, but some will not move. At this time, you need to use a fine-bristled brush to gently brush the bees away.
After the bees have flown away, you can use a long knife to cut the beeswax on the top of the honeycomb.
If you don't cut this layer of beeswax, the honey inside will not come out.
The cut beeswax still has some honey on it, so put it in a clean basin.
After the beeswax on both sides of a bee comb is cut, you can put it into the honey shaker. You can put two bee combs at a time. Then you can shake the handle and the machine with the bee combs inside will keep rotating. During the rotation, the honey will flow to the bottom of the honey shaker.
This job is temporarily done by Chen Dasong and Chen Duoxi.
The family has lived a good life in the past two years. Chen Duoxi has grown taller and gained some weight, so he is naturally stronger. He holds the honey shaker with one hand and shakes the handle with the other, and his movements look quite cheerful.
However, shaking honey is a boring job. At the beginning, you have strength and shake it fast, but if you don’t control the rhythm well, the speed will soon slow down.
But if the speed is slow, the honey cannot be shaken out.
When Gao Mingcheng opens the beehive and takes out the honeycombs, he also observes the condition of the bee colony. If the bee colony is large, it will not easily get sick, will be able to resist foreign enemies, and will produce a lot of honey.
While removing the honeycombs, Gao Mingcheng noticed that there were some dead bees and wasps scattered on the floor of the beehive.
These bees were bitten to death by wasps, and the wasps were killed by Chen Duofu.
However, it is impossible for Chen Duofu to stay by the beehive all the time, so there are more dead bees than wasps.
Most of the things in this world are mutually reinforcing and mutually exclusive. Gao Mingcheng could not care less about all these things and could only collect honey first. He wore short sleeves and sandals, and did not cover his head and face with a scarf, but when he stood by the beehive, no bees tried to sting him.
Because there were no burdens, he moved very quickly and cut several beehives in a short time.
Chen Dasong is very strong and knows how to control the rhythm of shaking the honey. He shakes it at a steady pace and can keep up with Chen Duofu's speed in harvesting the honey. Chen Duoxi is young and weak, so he is unable to follow suit.
By the time Chen Duoxi had shaken ten honeycombs, he was already sweating profusely.
"You take a break, I'll do the shaking." Gao Mingcheng walked over with the freshly cut beehives and skillfully placed them inside the honey shaking machine.
"Okay. Then I'll collect the honey." Chen Duoxi's face was full of joy, but he did not sit there doing nothing. Instead, he took over the job of collecting the honey. In this way, his elder brother Chen Duofu only had to be responsible for taking out the beehives and placing the beehives that had been shaken for honey.
It takes a whole day to shake the honey. By dark, the honey has not been completely shaken. There are still twelve beehives that have not been shaken, so we can only wait until tomorrow.
Gao Mingcheng brought his wife and children with him this time, and there were houses available in the village, so the three of them were not in a hurry to return to the county town, but decided to stay here for one night.
Many beautiful women spent the morning washing the honey shaker and bottles, and then washed the large vat for sedimentation, the sieve for filtering, and the scoop and funnel for collecting honey.
When Gao Mingcheng comes back with the honey extractor filled with honey, he must first pour the honey into the large water- and oil-free vat to let it settle. After settling, use a scoop and funnel to put it into a clean bottle.
In addition to these things, Xuanyue also has to take care of the children and cook lunch and dinner, so she is busy all day long.
By the evening, the basin is already full of beeswax, which still contains a lot of honey. It cannot be wasted like this. It has to be wrapped in clean gauze and squeezed hard to squeeze out all the honey. The remaining residue is the beeswax.
This beeswax can be sold directly or after preliminary processing. After preliminary processing, the price will naturally be higher, but Gao Mingcheng dislikes the trouble and would rather sell it at a lower price.
The honey squeezed out in this way will still contain a little bit of debris, and it will not look so clear and transparent, so it needs to be settled again. After settling, you can put it in the leftover cans at home and eat it yourself or give it as gifts.
They say that the oil seller combs her hair with water and the butcher gnaws bones, and this is how the world is.
Because of the honey shaking, the house is filled with the fragrance of nectar, which attracts many wasps, trying to grab some of the sweet honey.
Unfortunately, many Americans are not afraid of wasps. Every time they see a wasp, they will take an attitude of "I and the wasp are irreconcilable". They will pick up a piece of wood and hit the wasp. As long as they are quick, the wasp will be killed immediately under the board.
When Gao Mingcheng returned home at night, there were already quite a few dead wasps on the ground.
Many Americans even proudly said that they would send these wasps to feed the chickens.
Chickens are omnivores and are not afraid of even centipedes. They will eat a few wasps without any problem.
Gao Mingcheng had been shaking honey all day. Although he was physically strong, he felt that his arms were no longer his own. He was too lazy to take a shower. After fetching water, he took off his clothes and stood not far from the well to rinse.
While rinsing his hair, he felt that it was a little long and decided to find a barber shop to get a haircut before going to Guangzhou.
I had a casual dinner too, just a big bowl of noodles to fill my stomach.
After dinner, Gao Mingcheng sat comfortably in the yard. The night breeze blew in from the mountains and forests, blowing away the day's heat and bringing a hint of coolness.
If you live in the county, it will still be hot and humid at this time, but the nights in the small mountain villages will cool down faster.
If you have free time, you can go to the reservoir to take a bath, swim a few times, talk to people and brag, which is really pleasant.
Xuanyue also took Xiao Xuxu to the yard to enjoy the cool air, but there was one bad thing about the yard: there were many mosquitoes.
There are so many that even mosquito coils are useless!
Xuanyue was holding a palm-leaf fan and fanning herself while driving away mosquitoes for Xiaoxuxu. Xiaoxuxu was looking up at the stars and the moon.
The night is as cool as water and the starry sky is brilliant. Today is the waxing moon. There is a bright half moon in the sky and twinkling stars. These stars are bright or dim, each with its own characteristics.
Xuanyuemei was teaching Xiaoxuxu to recognize the moon and stars, but she couldn't tell what the stars were called and just called them stars.
Gao Mingcheng also looked up at the sky, but he was not very educated, and after pondering for a long time, he could barely recognize common stars such as the North Star and the Big Dipper.
As for the knowledge of the twenty-eight constellations and Western zodiac signs, he doesn't have that ability.
When he looked at the sky, he felt that the night sky was beautiful. At this time, there was no pollution from heavy industry and no dazzling neon lights. People were clearly far away from the sky, but he had the illusion that he could reach out and pick the stars.
In later generations, when people living in cities looked up at the starry sky, they felt that there was a layer of film separating them from the sky, making it impossible for them to see the sky clearly, and they could not feel the heroic and romantic feeling of reaching out to pick the stars.
Gao Mingcheng felt pain in his neck after looking up for too long. He thought he should buy a few reclining chairs. In the summer, he could move the reclining chairs to the yard, where he could lie down and look at the sky or sleep. It would be convenient.
Just as he was thinking about buying a recliner, Xuanyuemei said, "According to the date, my eldest sister should have given birth. Why haven't they come to inform us yet? Mingcheng, let's go see my eldest sister before we go back to the county tomorrow!"
During the Chinese New Year last year, they learned that many Jins were pregnant with their third child. Although the management here is not so strict, it is still rare for a woman to have a third child, so many Jins decided to hide in the mountains when they were about to give birth, and then pay the fine after the child was born, because it is impossible to kill the child anyway.
The village where Xuanyu Jin lives is even more remote than Gaojia Village. As long as the villagers do not betray them, this baby will definitely be born safely.
After hearing this, Gao Mingcheng recalled the things in his past life in his mind, but he had been too busy recently and many people didn't mention it, so he couldn't remember it at all.
But now that many beehives have been found, he said, "Okay, there are still twelve beehives left at home. We should be able to finish them in the morning. In the afternoon, we will go to my eldest sister's house and give her a jar of honey."
Xuan Mei agreed with a smile, and the honey she sent to her eldest sister's house was naturally the honey that had settled down last, with a little bit of residue and a not-so-transparent color.
The couple chatted casually, but little Xuxu fell asleep in Manyumei's arms without realizing it.
Seeing this, the couple stopped talking. Xuanyue wanted to take little Xuxu to the room to sleep, but because he had been sitting for too long, his hands and feet became numb and he almost couldn't stand up.
Gao Mingcheng took a few steps forward, picked up the sleeping little Xuxu, and put him on the bed in the room.
Mosquito coils had been lit in the room and the doors and windows were closed. There were no mosquitoes at this time. After Xiao Xuxu was put on the bed, he naturally turned over and fell asleep again.
After the weather got warmer, Xiao Xuxu no longer wore diapers. During the day, he wore open-crotch pants, and when he wanted to pee, he would squat down and pee. At night, when he wanted to pee, he would cry a few times. When Xuanmei heard it, she would take him outside to pee.
This matter was Xuanyimei's responsibility. Since having a child, Xuanyimei has become a very light sleeper. She would wake up immediately if Xiao Xuxu made the slightest noise.
Compared with his hard-working old mother, Gao Mingcheng, the old father, is much more comfortable. He can sleep till dawn.
There was nothing to entertain themselves that night, so naturally they went to bed early and got up early. At six o'clock, Chen Dasong and his two sons came to Gao Mingcheng's house. They were ready to take a honey extractor and a knife basin to go to the mountains to extract honey.
The sun rises early in the summer. Although it is only six o'clock, the sky is already bright. It is the best time to go into the mountains to work, as you will not be exposed to the sun and it will be cool.
After working for more than an hour, it’s just right to go home and have breakfast.
While working, Chen Dasong told Gao Mingcheng that his family was preparing to build a house and wanted to borrow the empty room in Gao Mingcheng's house to live in for a while.
Gao Mingcheng didn't live here often, so he naturally agreed.
Chen Dasong told him about his plan to build a house. Since three people in his family were working for Gao Mingcheng and could not build the house themselves, he would hire a few more workers this time and invite Aunt Liu's brother to take charge. As for Aunt Liu and the newly married daughter-in-law, they would be responsible for cooking for the workers.
After entering the 1990s, it became popular for people to build two-story houses. In addition, Chen Dasong had two sons, so he decided to build a two-story house with three rooms on the upper and lower floors, and also built a separate kitchen, toilet, chicken coop, pigpen and utility room.
Chen Dasong said, "It's too tiring to make bricks. We don't plan to make bricks anymore. Let's just buy all the bricks. Mingcheng, we'll have to use your tractor to load the bricks and tiles back. Don't worry, I'll buy the diesel myself!"
Chen Dasong's family had considered making bricks before, and even Xuanyu, in order to save a few dollars, was planning to make bricks, and even set his sights on using firewood from Gao Mingcheng's family.
Later, she was rejected by Xuanyuemei, and the two sisters became estranged for a while. After that, Zhang Chengyuan's mother had an accident and had to pay compensation, so his family temporarily stopped building the house.
We had agreed to build the house this year, but Xuanyu is pregnant again this year, so I’m afraid he won’t be able to build the house this year!
Gao Mingcheng doesn't like people who procrastinate, but Zhang Chengyuan and Xuanyu also have their own difficulties. They have no elders to help them and no brothers to help them. They only have to rely on the couple, so many things become inconvenient.
As for Xuanyueyu's confinement after giving birth, Xuanyuemei went to help take care of her last time, but this time she may not come back specially to take care of her second sister.
Before, Xuanyuemei lived in the village and had no children, so she naturally had time to take care of Xuanyueyu. Now that Xuanyuemei lives in the county, she has to take care of the business of the store and take care of Xiao Xuxu, so naturally she doesn't have the time and energy.
However, considering how well Xuanmei takes care of her sisters, I'm afraid she will help think of a solution.
Because we started shaking the honey early in the morning, all the honey was shaken before noon.
When he went back, Chen Duofu pulled off the veil covering his face and felt that he could breathe again all of a sudden. His face was covered with sweat and his hair was already soaked.
Although the others were not as embarrassed as him, they were almost in the same situation. Even Gao Mingcheng was sweating all over and was shaking his sore wrists as he walked.
After all the honey had settled, Gao Mingcheng gave a bottle of lower quality honey to the Chen family and Zhang Chengyuan's family respectively. Before returning to the county town, he went to the Jin family again.
Many Jins were crying at this time.
The wish of having a lovely little daughter was completely shattered when the third son was born!
The third child that I had been longing for turned out to be another son! (End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
