Hekou Town is half an hour away from Ping'an Town.
Ping'an Town is more than an hour away from Dahe Village.
The mother and son did not get on the bullock cart and walked for almost two hours before finally seeing the familiar mountains.
At this time, the sun has set, twilight envelopes Dahe Village, and the orange sunset is reflected in the rice fields, peaceful and beautiful.
"Dashan Niang, why are you back so late?"
"Sister-in-law Zhao, I heard that you went to the town to sell food today. How is your business?"
The women chatting under the big locust tree saw the mother and son approaching, and approached them to ask questions.
Cheng Wanwan motioned to her two sons to pick up their things and go back first. She smiled and said: "I made some food, but luckily I finally sold it. I made a few copper coins and cut more than half a catty of meat for the children." Taste something fishy."
"After the price of food in the town increased, the price of meat also skyrocketed. I went back last time and asked, it cost 25 cents per pound, which is extremely expensive."
"A mountain girl can afford twenty-five cents a pound of meat. It seems like she's really making a lot of money."
"Tell us, how much money did you make?"
Women are naturally gossips, and all of them look for answers with their eyes wide open.
"The price of meat today is thirty-five cents." Cheng Wanwan sighed, "It cost me thirty cents to cut such a small amount. There are six people in the family, and each of us can just take one bite to taste it. We will take all the remaining copper coins. Come buy ducks, isn’t there water here? Raising some ducks and then selling duck eggs is much better than working hard to make food.”
A woman who knew how to calculate accounts calculated in her mind that pork was thirty cents, and twenty ducks were at least one hundred cents. In other words, Dashan Niang made more than one hundred cents in a busy day!
Countless women had extremely hot eyes: "Dashan Niang, what are you doing to eat?"
Cheng Wanwan continued to sigh: "Just the lantern grass that I asked the children to help pick a few days ago, it seems to cost nothing. Only when you make it do you realize how troublesome it is. The main thing is that you have to add sugar. Everyone knows how expensive sugar is. Forty or fifty cents per pound, I have to buy a big bag of sugar every day, boil it into water and put peanuts in it, so it tastes crispy..."
The woman present had a complex look on her face. A bowl of tasteless water with brown sugar in it would make people salivate.
You can eat whatever you want, as long as you add brown sugar, it won't taste too bad.
But brown sugar was too expensive. They were asked to make snacks with brown sugar and sell them in the town. They really didn't dare to gamble. What if they couldn't sell it?
"I borrowed half a catty of brown sugar from the grocery store today, and I have to continue selling food tomorrow to clear the debt." Cheng Wanwan said, "I will continue to collect the lanterns on the lantern grass on the mountain. Two cents per catty, please." Sisters-in-law, please help me.”
Aunt Wang slapped her thigh and said, "It's so kind. Before it gets too dark, I'll take the barley up the mountain and get some back."
Another woman said: "I asked my boy to pick some and bring them back. If it weighs seven or eight pounds, Dashan Niang won't let it go, right?"
Cheng Wanwan smiled and said: "Of course, this thing consumes a lot of money, so take as much as you can."
The women who were chatting away instantly dispersed, fearing that others would tear up all the lantern grass if they were too late to go up the mountain.
Cheng Wanwan walked home slowly.
While making money for himself, he also gives these garrulous women in the village something to do, so they won't be jealous of her.
She walked into the yard. Wu Huiniang was processing the pork, preparing to make braised pork according to the previous method. She was quick with her hands and feet, and soon the meat was stewed on the stove.
Zhao Dashan was busy washing the stone flower seeds. Cheng Wanwan asked him to go to the main room to work. No matter what era, the core technology cannot be revealed. In the future, the operation steps related to ice powder must be done in the back room.
Zhao Ergou was plowing the vegetable plot at home. He had been busy at home for a day. The land in front of and behind the house was almost finished. He divided the land into small pieces, planted different vegetables in each piece, and then watered and applied farmyard manure.
Zhao Sanniu was chopping firewood in the open space of the yard, something he had to do every day.
Zhao Sidan was teasing the new duckling and feeding it wild vegetable roots.
"Mom, I love little ducks so much!" His eyes were shining brightly. "Little ducks like water. Let's dig a pond for the little duck."
Cheng Wanwan marked a piece of land in the yard: "The ducks are still small, let's make do with it here for now, and we will build a big pond later."
She wanted to buy the piece of land at the foot of the mountain just to dig a pond and raise ducks. Secondly, she planned to plant lotus roots, the jade bamboo shoots of this era.
Jade bamboo shoots are a southern variety. The ones grown in Dahe Village are not as crisp and delicious, and the color is also light yellow. However, she has improved varieties from the mall. The quality of the lotus roots and seeds grown is not too bad, but not too outstanding. It would be a huge loss for tribute.
This thing has always been a tribute, and it is not difficult for the locals in the south to eat it. However, in other areas, only the superiors in the palace and some relatives of the emperor are eligible to take a bite.
If she grows it and sells it to the powerful people of the day, it will be a lucrative business.
In her previous life, she had been to the West Lake, which specializes in growing ornamental lotus. The large lotus pond covers an area of about 60,000 to 70,000 acres. It is such a beautiful scenery when the lotus flowers are in full bloom.
If she had a lotus pond of her own, she could live in the village all her life, enjoy flowers, drink tea and listen to the sound of rain, which would be one of the great pleasures in life.
But now, she can't even afford thirty acres of land.
There is a long way to go, a long way to go, a long way to go!
Before the last bit of sunlight dissipated, the braised pork finally came out of the pot. It was less than a pound of meat and filled more than half a bowl. It smelled so sweet and delicious that I wanted to swallow it all on my tongue when I tasted it.
The braised pork was eaten up in an instant, each person was given a spoonful of the soup, mixed with white rice grains, it was simply the most delicious thing in the world.
After eating and drinking, Cheng Wanwan took out a pack of snacks from his backpack: "Si Dan, I brought this for you, take it and eat it."
Zhao Sidan was extremely happy: "Mom, you are so good to me. My favorite person is mom!"
He carefully opened the wrapping paper, and the crispy aroma filled his nostrils. Before he even took a bite, he heard the sound of swallowing saliva next to him.
He was afraid that his three brothers would be hunted by hungry wolves, so he quickly hid the snacks in his sleeves.
Cheng Wanwan laughed a little, and continued to take out from the backpack: "Everyone has a bag, Hui Niang also has one. You can eat what you have, and you are not allowed to snatch other people's."
Zhao Dashan scratched the back of his head: "Mom, I'm so old, I don't want to eat snacks."
Cheng Wanwan took the snack from his hand and stuffed it into Wu Huiniang's hand: "If your man doesn't eat it, I'll give it to you. No leftovers are allowed."
Wu Huiniang had never eaten this kind of snacks bought in the town since she was a child. Her hands trembled slightly as she took the things and solemnly choked with sobs: "Thank you, Mom..."
She must be filial to her mother-in-law and provide for her in her old age.
Cheng Wanwan continued to take out the backpack. The people in her family had never received copper coins and had no idea about the purchasing power of copper coins, so she felt no pressure to fish in troubled waters. There seemed to be endless things in the backpack.
"Take these grains and lock them up so that no one can see them. There are also these pieces of cloth. Each person can make a new suit of clothes. There are some leftover pieces of fabric to make some clothes to wear inside."
Don't think she doesn't know that except for the eldest daughter-in-law, the other four boys in the family don't wear undershirts. They only wear a pair of outer pants. If the pants are torn, their buttocks will be exposed, which is almost invisible.
"You four boys choose your own colors." Cheng Wanwan picked up the pink and khaki fabrics. She preferred pink, but at her age, she was too embarrassed to pretend to be young, "I want khaki, pink Hui. Mom, please dress yourself up and wear it softly..."
Wu Huiniang's eyes suddenly widened.
The pink clothes were worn by a five or six-year-old girl. She looked like a woman, but she didn’t dare to refute what her mother-in-law said...
When the family was distributing cloth, a voice came from the door of the courtyard.
