Chapter 110: Food Prices Rise [VIP]
After the autumn harvest, the villagers did not stay idle at home as in previous years.
This year is particularly busy, especially after each household had its main strong laborer conscripted, they now wish they could split one person into two people.
There were people working in the silkworm room and rabbit house at home. Shen Qingshan and Huang Songbai didn't even need to ask them to do it. They volunteered to start working because they had to earn money to buy food for the winter.
Although the imperial court exempted them from taxes this year, the food in Fang County was damaged by a disaster. If every household wanted to survive the winter safely and not starve, they had to spend money to buy food.
Not only do the family members have to have enough food and warm clothes, but the family members working in the quarry also have to have enough food and warm clothes.
For example, the Luo family and the Zhang family have privately agreed to send a delicious meal to the men in the family every once in a while.
But ever since the Zheng family kid rushed back from the city's supply and marketing cooperative yesterday to report the news, everyone has been panicking.
The disaster in Fang County is severe, and now the prices of grain in grain stores in the city have doubled.
When the villagers heard the news suddenly, they were in a panic. The rising food prices were simply bad news for them.
Fortunately, fortunately they have Polaroid.
After receiving the news, Tian Baolai called them to a meeting in the drying yard and told everyone that he and Dongsheng would set out to the next county to buy grain tomorrow.
If anyone needs it, they can register the quantity first, and the price will be calculated based on the previous grain price.
When everyone heard this, they all paid the money without any hesitation.
Because they were afraid that if they hesitated, they would never be able to buy cheap food again.
This is life-saving food.
Huang Dongsheng and Tian Baolai took advantage of the fact that the fields were left fallow, and the two brothers drove a mule cart to Zhushan County to buy food for everyone.
No matter how barren the wasteland in the village is, it has now been bought by the villagers who have pooled their money.
Now these wastelands also belong to the villagers. The impact of rising food prices is that the villagers pay more attention to the wastelands and must find ways to take good care of the land so that cassava, peanuts and edamame can be harvested.
So when Chen Yao told them that the wasteland had to be left idle for a few days to fertilize it before they could start sowing, everyone started to use their own manure buckets to fertilize the land.
Some even went to the mountains to pick up rotten leaves and poured them into the wasteland in baskets to make fertilizer.
The people of Xiahe Village are already familiar with how to make compost, and Shanghe Village is also learning how to irrigate the land with the help and explanation of the villagers of Xiahe Village.
For a time, both villages were filled with stench, and even the school lost its scent of books. The children did not dare to complain because they would be beaten if they did.
That day, when Zhao Xiaofu brought his classmates back to the village, they all covered their mouths and noses and ran towards the Shen Family School.
"Teacher, we are back." Zhao Xiaofu couldn't wait to greet Yang Jizong as soon as he entered the Shen family school.
Yang Wenying paused as she placed flower pots in the classroom, then turned and greeted the newcomer, "Brother Xiaofu, my brother and A-Yao went into the mountains to pick wild grapes this morning. They won't be back until the afternoon, so I'll be teaching the children today."
Zhao Xiaofu paused holding the book and said awkwardly, "Wenying, do you need us to cover for you?"
Some time ago, his mother and Yang Wenying worked together, so whenever he was at home, his mother would inevitably praise Yang Wenying for her intelligence and ability.
"Brother Xiaofu, won't it delay you from writing the test papers?" Yang Wenying actually didn't want to stay here. Her mind had already flown to the rabbit house.
She and Xu have recently organized embroiderers to develop new velvet flower styles. When everyone gets together, they talk about velvet flowers instead of this boring introductory class.
Zhao Xiaofu made the decision for them without even asking for the opinions of his classmates and friends.
"It won't delay you. Go ahead and do what you have to do."
The people standing behind Zhao Xiaofu looked at each other.
Yang Wenying could hardly suppress the smile on her face. She thanked the students in front of her, and then quickly carried the pot of flowers to the rabbit house.
"Please leave that flower for us!" Lin Zhenyu howled, his arm around Zhao Xiaofu's shoulder.
Wufeng Mountain.
Following her father's instructions, Chen Yao discovered the special mark he had left in the woods and followed the direction indicated by the mark.
Chen Yao quickly led Yang Jizong to a place full of wild grapes.
They were called grapes, but the fruit was not even as big as her fingernail.
The fruits were a mixture of green and red. Some had been eaten by birds and fell to the ground, rotting into a mess. The smell was a bit unpleasant.
Chen Yao looked at these fruits. Just one look and before she even tasted them, her mouth unconsciously secreted a lot of saliva.
Chen Yao looked at the large patch of wild grape vines, put down her backpack, picked out the reddest grape from among them, turned around and fed it to Yang Jizong.
"How is it, is it sour?"
Yang Jizong bit the thing in his mouth and frowned slightly: "It's not very sour, but the skin is very astringent."
As he said this, he spat out the skin and seeds in his mouth.
"Ayao, this fruit can really be made into fruit wine. There are people selling fruit wine, and I've drunk fruit wine, but can it be brewed?
Chen Yao plucked a grape, peeled its skin and put it into her mouth. "Seeing that there is a brewing method, I will know after trying it."
The wild grapes are very juicy and not sour at all.
Shen Zong picked the grapes and told him not to break them. He had to choose the good and ripe ones and keep the grape stems intact.
After both of their backpacks were full, they went down the mountain and returned home.
While Chen Yao was washing grapes, Yang Jizong went to the school and found that Zhao Xiaofu and others had returned, so he called them out of the classroom.
Luo Dunzi looked up and out the window, and was caught by Yang Jizong. He lowered his head guiltily and dared not to be absent from work again.
Zhao Xiaofu was quite excited to see his teacher after many days. He first took out the document from his arms and handed it to Yang Jizong, and then talked about what happened during the days when they, as students, visited various villages.
After the autumn harvest, the fertile fields in each village had to be plowed and winter wheat planted. Although the government issued an order, no one in the village took planting winter wheat seriously.
Planting wheat in winter is simply unheard of. The harvest cost this year is not good. Isn't this a waste of food?
After Zhao Xiaofu and the other students entered the village, they were furious when they found that the fertile fields they rented were still covered with wheat stubble.
Fortunately, the teacher had foresight and understood the ignorant nature of these tenant farmers. He guessed that they would definitely not plow the fields honestly, so he sent them to supervise them.
At first, they told the tenant farmers in a nice tone that they had to plow and fertilize the fields, and that they would take them to plant winter wheat in two months, which would increase their income.
As a result, this group of people actually laughed at them as if they were fools.
If the tenant farmers refused to listen to their good advice, they would reveal their identities and documents and inform them of the consequences if they did not cooperate with their winter plowing.
When the tenant farmers heard that they would be rewarded if they planted well and beaten with a stick if they planted poorly, who would dare to squat at the entrance of the village and watch these students make a fool of themselves?
They all carried hoes and went to the fields.
"The students finally understood what it meant to "borrow the power of the tiger"—the people simply feared its power and not its virtue. A few days later, we made a surprise attack and returned to observe their progress in tilling the fields."
"Guess what happened?"
"What's the result?" Yang Jizong asked.
A cold glint flashed across Zhao Xiaofu's eyes. "A few rogues are using the lack of grain as an excuse to not farm. If we hadn't happened to run into Constable Liu who's working on the road, we really wouldn't be able to do anything about them."
When Liu Chuang learned that someone was refusing to cooperate with plowing, he immediately ordered his colleagues to clamp the person's head with a clamp and then beat him with a stick in front of all the villagers.
The effect of this beating was particularly significant.
After hearing this, Yang Jizong patted him on the shoulder and said, "Thank you for your hard work."
"It's not hard, teacher. We have learned a lot while going out to do things this time. These are the articles we wrote. Please take a look at them when you have time." Zhao Xiaofu pulled out a thick stack of papers from his sleeve. Fearing that the person opposite would refuse, he handed the things to him and quickly walked into the classroom.
Yang Jizong felt a headache when he looked at the articles in his hands. These children from poor families had weak foundations and not many things to give them experience, so writing articles for the examination to become a scholar became their weakest link.
This is also the most troublesome part for Yang Jizong.
When Yang Jizong brought these articles home, Chen Yao had already washed the wild grapes and was now crushing the grapes with her bare hands and putting the crushed grapes into the wine jar.
"What's wrong? Did something happen when you went out?" Chen Yao sat on the bench and saw that his brows were furrowed, so she asked.
Yang Jizong shook his head to indicate that it was nothing serious. He put the students' articles back into the room, came out, rolled up his sleeves, washed his hands, and prepared to make wine with Shen Yao.
Not to mention, just the step of crushing the grapes is quite stress-relieving.
A layer of grapes and a layer of sugar are spread in a sterilized wine jar, and the jar is sealed when it is two-thirds full.
Place a white porcelain bowl upside down on the mouth of the jar, seal it with water, and wait for it to ferment.
After Yang Jizong and she carried the wine jar into the storeroom at home, he asked, "Ayao, when can we drink this wine?"
Chen Yao dusted off her hands and locked the warehouse. "It'll take at least a month, and I'll have to take it out and filter and stir it during that time. I'm not even confident this wine can be made."
What Chen Yao meant was that he shouldn't expect too much from the finished product.
These wild grapes are not as red as summer black grapes, and they don’t taste as sweet, so she is actually not sure about it.
"I'll check it for you then. I've tried this fruit wine before. If it tastes right, it means you've succeeded."
After the two of them made the wine, Chen Yao washed some of the remaining grapes and brought them into the room, eating with him while reading the students' articles.
"Brother Xiaofu, hey, Xiaofu's article is well written and his handwriting is very neat. If the examiner sees his article, he will probably praise it." Chen Yao spit the grape skin into another empty bowl.
Yang Jizong took the article from her and criticized it harshly, saying that the article was too plain and had no highlights, which was not good.
The two of them enjoyed discussing the articles written by the students.
Chen Yao couldn't help but click her tongue when she saw the red comments Yang Jizong wrote on the side for these students.
She also felt a sense of oppression as her paper was sent back for rewriting.
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