Chapter 40 Chapter 40 Making Sugar
Qin San and his mother were bickering, and Qin Er's wife and others beside them could only laugh helplessly.
When Qin An and Dadan came back, Dadan's small sack was filled with pears, and even Qin An had a few in his pocket.
Seeing Xu Yunfan sitting on the side of the road, the two little guys shouted, "Brother Xu~"
Xu Yunfan saw that Dadan was running with the big bag on his shoulders and his body was not stable. "Run slower, be careful not to fall."
The two ran to Xu Yunfan, and Qin An showed the big pear in his pocket to Xu Yunfan, "Brother, eat the pear. You won't be afraid after eating the pear."
Xu Yunfan: “…”
It's really embarrassing.
When Erdan saw Dadan and the others coming back, he came over with a hatchet. Last time he saw Xu Yunfan eating a pear without eating the skin, and he didn't like pears either, so he could use the hatchet to peel the skin.
Qin An took the hatchet from Erdan and was so sensible that he handed the first pear he peeled to Xu Yunfan. Even Qin Run didn't have this honor.
Xu Yunfan was so relieved that he took the pear and took a bite, praising the little ones for being sensible.
The three little brats were so happy to be praised. Sandan saw how happy they were and stood up from the ground with a hum. He wanted to come over too, and kept shouting, "Guo Guo~"
Dadan carried the small sack and delivered the pears to his family. After the pears were divided, he brought Sandan over.
There were a few little guys chattering there, and Xu Yunfan was distracted. He finished eating the pear, touched Sandan's head, and then continued to work.
Because of that caterpillar, Xu Yunfan had some psychological trauma. He would follow Qin Run wherever he went. As long as Qin Run was around, he was not afraid.
At times like this, Qin Run gave him a full sense of security.
Xu Yunfan would check his body from time to time, fearing that another bug would crawl onto him when he wasn't paying attention.
Qin Run secretly found it funny and advised him to go back to the road and sit down, but Xu Yunfan was unwilling.
If he doesn't work, he will be living off a man who does him a favor. He is a good young man, and he can't swallow the thought of living off a man who does him a favor.
I really can't swallow it. It happened a few days ago. My neck was almost stretched like a giraffe.
By the time Qin Run and his team had collected eight bags of corn, Qin Er had already pushed the cart three times.
There were only three of them, and Aunt Qin had six or seven people on her side. They were all quick and efficient, unlike Xu Yunfan, who had to check himself carefully from head to toe after collecting half of the items, which wasted a lot of time.
When he received the harvest, Xu Yunfan saw a piece of tender white cauliflower, which is called Solanum nigrum in some places. This kind of vegetable tastes a bit bitter and cool, but it has a sweet aftertaste. It tastes very good when cooked with eggs to make soup.
Xu Yunfan was so happy that he didn't even bother to carry the corn into the cart. He climbed up the ridge of the field and picked a bunch of corn.
Qin Run carried the corn onto the cart and came back to see Xu Yunfan picking a bunch of weeds. "Yunfan, what are you picking weeds for?"
Xu Yunfan smiled and said, "This is a wild vegetable. Take it home and cook it. It's delicious."
"Can this thing be eaten?" Qin Run had eaten a lot of wild vegetables, but he didn't know this one was edible. The wild vegetables he knew about were all told to him by his grandmother.
The villagers didn't dare eat those they didn't recognize, for fear of killing people.
A few years ago, I heard that some people picked mushrooms from the mountains and ate them indiscriminately, and their entire family was wiped out. In the end, their relatives came forward and hired someone to carry them up the mountain.
"It's edible. I've eaten it." Xu Yunfan picked a large handful and felt it was enough for a meal, so he pulled out a piece of straw to tie up the wild vegetables.
Qin Run and his brother continued to break the corn, while Xu Yunfan was responsible for pushing the corn back. On the way, he happened to meet Qin Sen and two men he didn't know. The three of them were holding the carrying pole, sweating profusely.
One of the men was still rubbing his shoulders, and when the three saw Xu Yunfan's cart, their eyes were full of envy.
"Uncle Qin." Xu Yunfan knew Qin Sen and stopped to greet him.
"Xu kid, push the corn back."
Xu Yunfan: “…”
Isn’t this cart of corn obvious enough?
"Yeah, are you almost done harvesting your corn?"
"There are many more."
Xu Yunfan looked at the two young men who stopped beside Qin Sen and kept secretly looking at him, "Uncle Qin, who are they?"
Qin Sen slapped his thigh and said, "Oh, I forgot to introduce you. These are the eldest and youngest in my family, Qin Si and Qin Qi. One is 22 and the other is 17. The youngest was born in March, so he should be older than you."
Qin Qi was indeed older than him. Xu Yunfan greeted him, "He is indeed a few months older than me. Hello, brothers."
"Hello... hello."
It was the first time that Qin Si and Qin Qi saw a man who was more handsome than the boys in the town. Especially when they looked at him closely, they found that the young man Qin Run picked up, whom they had heard of in the legend, had skin even more tender than the village girl.
It is so tender that you can squeeze out water from it, without even a pore.
As men, Qin Si and Qin Qi felt a little embarrassed when they saw Xu Yunfan, and they stammered when they spoke.
Xu Yunfan saw that they were holding sacks, and thought about Qin Qi's broken leg, "Uncle Qin, do you have many sacks at home?"
Qin Sen didn't understand what was going on. He thought Xiao Qin's family didn't have enough sacks. "Of course we have dozens of them. Don't you have enough? Then come to my house and get some."
"No," Xu Yunfan said, "I meant that when I was harvesting corn, Aunt Qin and the others used my cart because their fields were right next to mine. Your fields were farther away, so it was inconvenient to use a cart. I figured you had a lot of sacks, so I could harvest the corn and put them in the sacks first. Then, when I don't need the cart at noon, you can use it. That way, you don't have to go back and forth to carry the corn."
"Is this... okay?" Qin Sen thought, the cart is so useful, and only Xiao Qin's family has it in the village, it must be very valuable, how can he lend it to others easily?
"Why not? If you want to use it, just come to my house at noon and take the cart away. You can return it in the afternoon. But you'll have to endure the heat."
There is a cart to use, no need to carry it on shoulders, and the heat is nothing. After they put the corn in bags and carry it to the roadside, at noon, several people from the family will take turns to go to the Douli area. Isn't that much better than carrying it on shoulders?
"Okay, okay, okay," Qin Sen was very happy. He thanked Xu Yunfan again and talked about how useful the candles he brought to Qin San last night were.
When the Li family members in the cornfield by the roadside heard this, they were filled with envy and hatred.
Aunt Li, in particular, hated Xu Yunfan to the core.
Because of Xu Yunfan, she lost face last time. Not only was she scolded by her own head of the family when she returned home, but even her youngest son had some complaints about her.
If Xu Yunfan handed over his skills in making carts, would they still have to work so hard?
Even if they didn't pay, she was still Tongsheng's mother after all. This man had just arrived and didn't want to curry favor with their family. When her youngest son became an official, he might regret it.
Xu Yunfan glanced at Aunt Li who stopped to look at him, and after saying hello to Qin Sen, he pursed his lips, pushed the cart and left without even looking at her.
After returning home, Xu Yunfan unloaded a few bags of corn and did not forget to sprinkle some water on the wheat.
In this way, after three days, Xu Yunfan saw that the wheat had grown five or six centimeters high. That morning, while the sun was not high, he went to the field to harvest corn for more than an hour, and came back after it got hot. As soon as he got home, he steamed the soaked glutinous rice.
The day before, Xu Yunfan asked Qin Run to find someone to buy two kilograms of peanuts and some sesame seeds.
Qin Run didn't know what Xu Yunfan was going to do, but since he asked, he did it without asking any more questions.
After the glutinous rice was steamed and cooled, Xu Yunfan also chopped the malt. He mixed the glutinous rice and the chopped malt evenly, covered it with a piece of cloth, and let it ferment for two hours before moving on to the next step.
At noon, after the family finished their meal, at Xu Yunfan's request, Qin Run fried the peanuts that Xu Yunfan asked him to buy and the black sesame seeds that he had bought earlier.
If Qin Run didn't take action, Xu Yunfan, the kitchen killer, would be able to fry peanuts into black sheep dung.
Qin Run asked him what he was going to do, but Xu Yunfan was mysterious and refused to tell him, saying that he wanted to give him a surprise.
As soon as Xu Yunfan smiled at Qin Run, Qin Run had no bottom line and no resistance, so he didn't even remember to ask any further questions.
In the afternoon, Qin Run and his brother went out to work, so Xu Yunfan did not go.
Because his wheat is fermented.
Xu Yunfan took out the basin used for washing vegetables, covered it with a white cloth and started filtering.
This time, Xu Yunfan soaked a lot of wheat, and the filtered "water" filled a whole basin, and he couldn't even fill it all. He could only wash the pot, pour half of it into the pot, and then continue filtering.
Making a fire was a big problem. Xu Yunfan choked on the smoke a few times and shed a few worthless crocodile tears before he managed to make the fire.
Just because he got angry once, Xu Yunfan was shameless. He felt that he was so awesome and nothing could stump him. He felt that he was so powerful that if Qin Run was here, he would probably show off.
After the "water" in the pot boiled, Xu Yunfan kept stirring it with a spatula. When the bubbles became more and more and the mixture became thicker, it was almost done.
Xu Yunfan used a spatula to scoop up most of the malt sugar and put it into a wooden basin. He hung it in the well and waited for it to cool before continuing to the next step. He had to pull the sugar now, so his hands must be familiar with it.
Xu Yunfan put the fried sesame seeds and peanuts into the remaining hot malt sugar in the pot and stir-fried them evenly.
After stirring, put it into a washed winnowing basket and press it into shape. Use a kitchen knife to push the four sides evenly. Wait until it is not so hot before cutting it into pieces.
The black sesame peanut candy is ready.
After the malt sugar in the wooden basin cooled down, Xu Yunfan found a wooden stick, washed it clean, fixed the stick with a few stones, found a pair of scissors, washed his hands and started to tear the sugar.
After he pulled the malt sugar into pieces about two fingers wide, he used scissors to cut it into small pieces of two or three centimeters in length.
Xu Yunfan took out the basket that Qin Run had put away earlier and put a dozen pieces of sesame peanut candy and a dozen pieces of malt sugar into it.
The day before yesterday, Aunt Qin's family finished harvesting the corn in the field. Seeing that they had not finished harvesting yet, the whole family came to help. He should thank them properly.
On the day when Xu Yunfan was frightened by the caterpillar, it was not until lunchtime that he learned from Qin An that Qin's eldest daughter-in-law had gone back to her parents' home crying early in the morning.
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