Chapter 67 A Rich Harvest
Liu Dazhuang was responsible for collecting firewood alone.
It didn't take long before the meat was roasted, and Liu Yinyin naturally ate pheasant meat.
Although there are no seasonings, the roasted pheasant, which is pure natural and additive-free, has crispy skin and tender meat, and is quite delicious.
Liu Yinyin tore off a large piece of chicken leg and ate it.
The remaining pheasant meat and roasted bamboo rat meat were handled by Gu Cheng and Liu Dazhuang.
Liu Dazhuang licked the corners of his greasy mouth, with an unsatisfied look on his face: "If I were as good as my uncle, I would definitely come to the mountain to barbecue every day."
Liu Yinyin pursed her lips and smiled: "Then you have to exercise well."
Gu Cheng has been a soldier for such a long time that he never forgets to run and exercise every day after retiring. His physical fitness is definitely beyond the reach of ordinary people.
After eating and drinking, it's time to go back.
Let’s pack up the things first. Liu Yinyin has about 100 kilograms of bamboo shoots, a basket of bamboo fungus, and a few kilograms of wild vegetables.
Two sacks of bamboo rats weigh about 100 kilograms.
The couple put the bamboo shoots into a bag together. Gu Cheng carried the bag in one hand and held a bag of bamboo rats in the other.
Liu Yinyin said, "Would you like to share some bamboo shoots with me?"
She was holding a basket of bamboo fungus and a small bag of wild vegetables, which together weighed no more than ten pounds.
Gu Cheng shook his head: "Let's go."
It was only a little over 100 pounds, so it was a piece of cake for him.
Liu Dazhuang had a hard time carrying a bag of bamboo rats, but he didn't say a word and managed to hold on by gritting his teeth.
Liu Yinyin seemed a little embarrassed, and along the way, she kept exchanging things with Liu Dazhuang.
There were a lot of things, so several people walked and stopped along the way and rested several times.
During the rest period, Gu Cheng caught two more pheasants and a nest of four rabbits, all of which were adult rabbits, both male and female.
Liu Yinyin looked so happy, as if someone had given her a pillow just when she dozed off. She was still thinking about the breeding of rabbits at home.
I didn't expect a rabbit to come to my door so soon.
It was almost four o'clock when a few people came down from the mountain.
There was no need to divide the things. Gu Cheng directly asked Liu Dazhuang to take back the bag of bamboo rats he was holding.
I didn't share the other bamboo shoots, rabbits, etc. with him.
Liu Dazhuang naturally had no objection. Originally, most of the bamboo rats were caught by Gu Cheng, and he didn't contribute anything to the others. Even so, he was considered to have gotten a great bargain.
If the couple had not insisted, he would not have asked for anything. Liu Dazhuang would have been very satisfied after eating a whole roasted bamboo rat.
After arriving home, Jiang Cuihua was about to ask them why they came back so late, but she saw the couple carrying large and small bags...
"Why are there so many things?" Jiang Cuihua was shocked. "Mom, you guys didn't go deep into the mountains, did you?"
There are jackals, tigers and leopards in the deep mountains. Although my son-in-law is quite skilled, he can't be compared with those beasts no matter how powerful he is.
Liu Yinyin said casually, "No, I just found a bamboo forest and dug bamboo shoots, and caught a lot of bamboo rats."
After putting down the things, Liu Yinyin felt disgusted with her body being dirty and sticky from sweat, so she went to boil water to take a bath.
When I came out of the shower, Jiang Cuihua was gone.
Gu Cheng handed him his son in his arms and explained, "My mother went home. I asked her to bring back two bamboo rats to eat."
Liu Yinyin nodded. She was eager to get rid of those bamboo rats as soon as possible.
After hugging her fragrant son and giving him a kiss, Liu Yinyin glanced at the bamboo rats in the bag and asked him, "What should we do with these bamboo rats?"
Bamboo rats are alive, so it's okay to keep them, but we have so many rabbits, chickens and pigs at home.
If I want to raise bamboo rats again, it won’t be good if others find out.
Besides, Liu Yinyin has to go to classes and doesn't have the energy to take care of so many small things.
Gu Cheng had no intention of raising bamboo rats, so he casually said, "How about exchanging food with the villagers like last time?"
Liu Yinyin shook her head when she heard this: "I'm afraid that's not possible. Now everyone's food has been handed in. Who has food to exchange?"
Even if the villagers secretly hid some food, they did not dare to take it out openly.
So, even if you want to change it, you have to do it secretly.
Liu Yinyin thought: "Let's put it aside for now. I'll ask my mother to ask tomorrow if there are any families who want to exchange bamboo rats, and then we can exchange them privately."
It would be better to leave this matter to Jiang Cuihua. She is familiar with most people in the village and naturally will not look for unreliable people.
Excluding the two given to Jiang Cuihua, there were sixteen bamboo rats left.
Jiang Cuihua asked around and finally told Liu Yinyin that there were many people in the village who wanted to eat bamboo rat meat.
But now everyone has little food on hand, and is only willing to exchange two kilograms of food for one kilogram of bamboo rats. The food is not fine grain, but corn grits or other coarse grains.
Liu Yinyin thought about it and finally agreed to change.
She really couldn't stand feeding bamboo rats every day. It was really creepy to look at that thing.
Liu Yinyin sold eight bamboo rats in exchange for twelve kilograms of corn grits, four kilograms of mung beans, five kilograms of soybeans and ten kilograms of dried sweet potatoes.
There were no others. Liu Yinyin sold the remaining eight bamboo rats directly to the system.
Not to mention, selling to the system is more cost-effective. Wild bamboo rats cost 120 kilograms each. After selling eight bamboo rats, she earned nearly 3,000 yuan in one go.
Liu Yinyin did not sell the remaining bamboo shoots and bamboo fungus. She dried the ones she couldn’t finish and stored them.
Since becoming a teacher at school, Liu Yinyin feels that every day passes by very quickly.
In the blink of an eye, it was the end of April and the spring ploughing in the village was over.
As expected, there has been no rain in the village since the spring plowing days, and the crops in the fields have to be grown by carrying water.
"We've been so exhausted lately," Jiang Cuihua muttered. "This damn weather is really terrible. Your father and your brothers have been fetching water in the fields every day, and they've lost a lot of weight."
Of course, it's not just the Liu family. Everyone else in the village is like this. They are exhausted from work every day.
Liu Yinyin felt distressed when she heard this. Life was really not easy for the farmers at that time. They depended on the weather for their food and worked hard all year just to earn a living.
If a natural disaster occurs... not only will a year's hard work be in vain, but you will also have to tighten your belt to make ends meet.
I just so happen to have two pheasants at home that I haven’t taken care of yet, and I think everyone has been having a hard time lately.
Liu Yinyin went to boil water and killed a pheasant.
The pheasant is quite fat, and even after plucking its feathers it weighs three pounds.
Liu Yinyin cooked a big pot of chicken stewed with mushrooms.
He gave half of it to the Liu family and kept the remaining half for his family to eat in the evening.
After the spring ploughing, Jiang Cuihua was not as diligent in going to work. When she was not working, she would come to her daughter's house to help take care of the children.
This way Liu Yinyin doesn't have to carry the child to class.
There are two classes in the morning, with a 20-minute break in between, so Liu Yinyin can finish class at 9:40 every day.
After class that day, Liu Yinyin went home, said something to Jiang Cuihua, and then went to the county town to buy things.
To be honest, she wanted to go to the black market in the county town to take a look.