Li was among the first batch of orphans who were taken in as apprentices by Zhao Yingong. [Read the latest chapter] She has received cultural education for a long time in Zhao Yingong's "private school", and this time she was selected to stand alone as the technical and administrative person in charge of the Jixian Village Promotion Station.
Li Yaoer gave her a quick training in sericulture technology in the villa. Although Wang Siniang was clever and had rich experience in raising sericulture, she was illiterate and her receptive ability was somewhat poor. In comparison, Li Zheng, who already has a B diploma, is much better. After all, lending and establishing cooperatives all involve financial and digital management. Wang Siniang is illiterate and cannot manage and supervise herself. Therefore, she can only exist as a peg and scene character inserted into Jixian Village.
Dudoniang didn't know the orifice inside, but she had good eyesight and could see that although this man was young, he was also "in charge of affairs", so she didn't dare to take a peek.
Gradually, there were more and more people in Wang Siniang's house. Every time a ship brought something new, there would always be one or two more people arriving unknowingly. There are men and women, and their common characteristics are that they are well-founded in their advances and retreats, and they are taciturn. It is rare to see people gathering together to chat. Basically, everyone has something to do and there is no time to stop.
The hatching of silkworm ants usually starts at 4:30 in the morning and emerges at 8:00 in the morning. After they emerge, the silkworm ants must be transferred to the silkworm foil to be raised. Here in Jixian Village, ant silkworms are collected by sweeping them with feathers - this is also the most commonly used method. Every household prepares special feathers for sweeping ant silkworms. But a different approach is used here.
Tadonna and other working women followed Reizheng's instructions and spread a thin but tough tissue paper on the silkworm foil after the ant silkworms came out, and then sprinkled chopped withered mulberry leaves on the tissue paper - this It's called mulberry, and it's specially used to attract silkworm ants to the paper.
After the silkworm ants smell the fragrance of the mulberry, they will climb up the tissue paper, then gently sweep the mulberry away, then move the tissue paper to the silkworm foil for raising silkworms, turn the tissue paper over to feed the mulberry, so that it is completely It has become a job to harvest silkworms and ants. Not to mention saving labor. It does little harm to silkworm ants and unhatched silkworm eggs.
Dudoniang saw that the number of silkworm ants harvested by this method was much higher than the usual sweeping method, and secretly remembered in her heart: she will do the same in raising silkworms in the future.
The newly born silkworm ants are squirming in the "silkworm basket". They look very strong and black and are very decent. This kind of silkworm ant is rarely seen in previous years. The Cantonese grown by Wang Si’s family is indeed a good product! Duoduoniang regretted a little bit why she didn't borrow the cloth on credit - she was obviously given very generous conditions.
The silkworm ants from other houses in the village came out a little later, but the situation was pretty good. It seems that this year's silkworm flowers are much better than last year, at least to a ** score. Silkworms and ants are born in good physical condition. The appearance of silkworm ants in Shen Kaibao's family is even rarer. This made him forget all his troubles for a while. I have great hope in my heart.
However, during the first and second sleeps, it was raining continuously and the temperature dropped all the way. The silkworms in the village began to suffer from silkworm disease, and I saw people constantly pouring "silkworm baskets" into the stream near the village. Another big stone weighed on Shen Kaibao's heart: It looked like this, and it was impossible for his wife to sleep peacefully for the third time.
According to previous experience, approximately one-fifth of the silkworms will be lost during the silkworm season in normal years. In bad years, only one-third of the silkworm ants will survive to form cocoons. Of course, there is something worse, that is, widespread harvest failure in the village. But this kind of thing rarely happens.
For Shen Kaibao and most of the villagers, this year's silkworm flowers must be at least eight points in order to make up for their losses this year and support them for another year. If the silkworm flowers are only six to seven points, many people will have a difficult year.
Tension pervaded the whole village, even though no incense was burned at home during the silkworm-raising period. So as not to affect the silkworms. But every household prays in front of the statues of the Kitchen God and the Silkworm God, praying that the next three sleeps will pass peacefully.
The silkworm room in Wang Si's house has good thermal insulation and has means of heating up and monitoring the temperature and humidity. It can always keep the temperature and humidity in the silkworm room at the best state. In addition, the disinfection work in advance is done well, and the silkworm farmers are clean and hygienic. Work is also very tight. Therefore, silkworms are very strong. Dudoniang is even busier at work now - she now has to wear cotton clothes like a child's wrap every day, covered from head to toe, even wearing a scarf on her head, and going in and out of the silkworm room. handwashing. There was a stone sink specially placed in front of the Jamsil, which was filled with unknown things. Pungent tasting water. Those who can get in and out should soak their hands and arms in it for a while before taking it out. Someone is specially assigned to supervise. If anyone forgets and washes his hands only after being reminded, he will be given a fault.
There are more and more jobs, and the rules are becoming more and more strict. What is implemented here is a set of "operating procedures". Yuli Zheng is responsible for teaching step by step. No matter whether the silkworm ladies understand it or not, they just need to follow it. , no less, no more, no more changes allowed. Every move must be done according to the rules. If you do something wrong in any aspect, you will be demerited.
If you have three demerits, your wages will be deducted - this is very light, and Duoduoniang has also been deducted several times. If she were a slave under the name of "Mr. Zhao" of Wang Siniang's family, it would be much worse if she committed a crime. Not only would she have to deduct money, but she would also have to suffer physically and mentally: several times, Duo Duo Niang heard people beating meat with bamboo boards in the side room and crying for mercy. From time to time, you can still see a few dull-minded sericulture ladies kneeling in the yard and reciting "operating procedures" after finishing work.
"Mr. Zhao's food is really not delicious." Every time Dudoniang sees this kind of thing, she will feel a chill on the back of her neck, so she remembers all the rules very tightly - although she will not suffer The board punishes me by kneeling down and deducts too much money. I don’t want to be laughed at when I go home.
As the three days of sleep passed, the work of sericulture entered its climax. Duoduoniang and the sericulture ladies all lost weight, and their sleepless eyes were covered with red threads. Although the system of working two shifts here is better than working day and night raising silkworms at home, the workload is much greater.
In addition to constantly cutting and loading leaves in the class, the sericulture ladies also have to patrol regularly. If you find dead silkworms or diseased silkworms, use silkworm chopsticks to remove them immediately and put them into a special collection bucket.
The work of cleaning up the silkworm excrement is also very arduous - but it is much more convenient to clean up the silkworm excrement here than to raise silkworms at home. The bottom of the silkworm excrement in Wang Si's family is covered with a very fine silk screen. When cleaning, you only need to lift the screen. , the silkworm excrement will naturally leak out, just pour it into the special silkworm excrement basket.
Silkworm excrement and dead silkworms are stored in a dedicated room and dumped together into the biogas pool behind the toilet at night, where they are fermented to kill viruses and bacteria. Selling silkworm excrement as fertilizer is also an income for silkworm farmers. However, traditional silkworm raising does not strictly isolate, control and harmlessly treat silkworm excrement, making it an important transmitter of silkworm diseases.
Although the sericulture ladies had to work hard day and night and were often punished, Wang Siniang's treatment was also improved. She ate rice three times a day and saw the smell of meat every day. There is also a special meeting to "motivate" every day before starting work. If the work is outstanding and the targets are completed well, the top three will be given additional bonuses in proportion.
Wang Siniang and Li Zheng took turns to supervise the work. Their voices were hoarse and their eyes were red. Everyone worked hard in this fierce political atmosphere - the extension station raised a lot of silkworms, but it employed far less people. It all depends on work efficiency.
In the village, there is also a busy and tense atmosphere. Shen Kaibao's whole family, including his teenage grandson, didn't sleep for days and nights. Although there was the shadow of silkworm disease and we had to dump a few "silkworm baskets", the remaining silkworms were still doing well. The "babies" after "four sleeps" ate seven tons of leaves on the first day. They were all green and strong, and they made a "rustling" sound when eating the leaves. Seeing that the mulberry leaves at home were not enough, the mulberry leaves bought with all his savings were almost used up. Shen Kaibao estimated that it would take thirty tons of leaves to get to the upper cluster, and it would not be enough to rely on his own ability.
Shen Kaibao discussed with his son Daqing Sanqing where to borrow money to buy leaves.
"We have pledged all the land to him. If we want to speak again, what pledge will we use? Mr. Cao will not agree." Daqing said.
"If you can't borrow it from Mr. Cao, why don't you ask Shopkeeper Wang in town?" Sanqing said.
Shen Kaibao said with a sad face: "It was okay in previous years, but this year shopkeeper Wang said that he has already crossed the river like a clay Bodhisattva."
"It seems that I still want Master Cao..." San Qing said in a daze. He really couldn't hold it anymore. His double eyelids seemed to weigh hundreds of kilograms and he just wanted to close them.
Shen Kaibao didn't speak. He thought over and over again. Apart from Mr. Cao, he really couldn't think of anyone who was capable or possible to lend him money at the moment. But Mr. Cao was a shrewd man, and he would never borrow money without a solid mortgage. According to the current market price, these thirty loads of leaves cost at least four yuan per load.
Daqing said: "You can either ask Ye Xing for credit first..."
This is a solution, but using Ye Xing on credit is not only expensive, but the interest rate is also ridiculously high. Shen Kaibao's heart became anxious when he thought that many of his silkworm cocoons were gone even before they were confiscated.
At this time, there was a sudden noise in the rice fields outside. It turned out that Duo Duo Niang's man was passing by carrying ten tons of leaves by boat. So the conversation between father and son was interrupted, and they all went out to watch the fun.
Shen Kaibao was a little surprised. He knew that Duoduo's natal family had much less mulberry land than his own. Although they only raised two "cloths" this year, the leaves were definitely not enough to eat. A few days ago, he saw Dotoniang's father-in-law looking sad because he had no money to buy mulberry leaves. How come you raised money today?
He quickly stopped Duo Duo Niang's man and asked where Ye came from? What's going on?
"Duoduoniang got this on credit from Mr. Shen's family." He said loudly, "His family has Ye Duode!"
