It started to snow at noon, and in the evening there was a layer of white snow on the ground.
Cheng Wanwan asked the workers digging the lotus root pond to go back and rest, and wait until the snow stopped before continuing the work.
The kang was always burning in the kitchen. Both adults and children were sitting on the kang. Even Xiaodian, Dahei and Xiaohei got into the house and found a warm place to lie down and keep warm.
"The ducks are also starting to be lazy." Zhao Sidan came back from a walk in the backyard, his face flushed by the cold wind, and he breathed, "It's been three days, and there's not a single egg."
Cheng Wanwan laughed: "People become lazy when they are cold, and hens and ducks are the same."
There are nearly fifty ducks, more than thirty chickens, and five geese at home. We can collect dozens of eggs a day, which is too much for the family to eat.
Eggs also have a shelf life. Even in winter, the shelf life is not more than two months. It is not enough for the family to eat, but it is quite troublesome to sell them in the town. The eggs are fragile and must be transported all the way to the city. You can break several of them, but the gain outweighs the loss. Sell them to the refugees, who can’t afford them.
Those people had ten kilograms of grain each, and they could only eat for a month if they saved their food. In order to survive until next year, they would add bark, grass roots and leaves to the rice. Although the food was relatively poor, the group of people did not feel sad because Have hope and know that the difficulties in front of you will eventually pass. If you endure it, spring will come.
"Aunt Zhao, are you here?"
A voice sounded in the yard.
Chunhua quickly put down the cabbage in her hand, got off the kang and put on her shoes. She walked outside the house and took a look, then turned around and said, "Auntie, it's Huzi here."
Zhu Huzi is Mrs. Zhu’s only grandson.
He walked to the door, shook the snowflakes on his head, stamped his feet, then opened the reed curtain and walked in.
Cheng Wanwan asked Chunhua to bring a cup of hot water to Zhu Huzi and asked the child to sit down by the kang.
"It's so warm." Zhu Huzi sighed, "It's too late this year. I'll ask someone to build a fire pit for my house in the spring next year, so grandma will never cry out about the cold again."
When building houses this year, some people in the village followed Cheng Wanwan's example in building earth stoves, but only a small number of people. However, after this winter, many people should build this thing at home next year.
After Zhu Huzi drank half a glass of water, he started to get down to the topic: "After my grandma won one hundred taels of silver in the last competition, she planned to use the twenty taels to build an adobe house next year and leave the rest for me to study. I asked Yu Master, Master said, you have to go a long way to study. If you want to be successful in your studies, you must study hard for at least ten years... I don’t know if grandma can live for ten years, I don’t dare to bet.”
Cheng Wanwan sighed, Huzi was eleven years old and only twelve after the Chinese New Year. He had so many things to think about at such a young age.
"I will stop studying this year after I finish studying. I decided to start a business." Zhu Huzi laughed, "I asked my grandma to buy me a bullock cart. It cost me fifteen taels of silver. I thought about it for a long time and found that we are big Every household in Hecun raises chickens and ducks to eat locusts in the summer. Now that the chickens and ducks have grown up, everyone is reluctant to eat the eggs they lay every day, so they keep them all. I want to buy these eggs and transport them to the city on an oxcart. Go to the city and sell it for money.”
He must have known the market a long time ago, and he spoke eloquently, "The eggs in the village are sold in the city for two cents each. Sometimes a few will be broken on the road. I charge three for five cents. Although they are few I made a penny, but saved a lot of trouble. I just asked around the village and many people are willing to sell me eggs and duck eggs. Does Aunt Zhao think this business is feasible?"
Cheng Wanwan asked him: "Can you guarantee that the eggs will not break when you transport them?"
There were no egg trays in this era. The most you could do was to borrow rice and put the eggs in the rice to prevent collisions. It was okay if the amount was small, but if there were too many eggs, there wouldn't be that much rice.
Zhu Huzi said, "I'm going to ask Grandma to make some hay holders for holding eggs. The hay is woven into the shape of an egg, and one is placed in each hay holder. The eggs can't touch each other, and of course they won't break."
"You kid is really smart." Cheng Wanwan couldn't help but admire, "But I have a better way to sell eggs. Do you want to listen to it?"
Zhu Huzi's eyes lit up: "I want to listen."
Aunt Zhao is the smartest person in their Dahe Village, and she is willing to give him guidance. This is his blessing.
"You can only earn a penny from three eggs, and three hundred eggs are only a hundred copper coins. This work is tiring and the profit is too small." Cheng Wanwan said with a smile, "If you process the eggs and duck eggs, you can make them into something else. If you sell the food in the city, the price will be at least several times higher."
Zhu Huzi's breath caught, and he listened more carefully.
Cheng Wanwan picked up a pen and wrote out a recipe. These are the steps for making preserved eggs.
She had wanted to eat preserved eggs before, but she never had time and the preparation process was a bit troublesome, so she put it aside again and again.
If someone does this business, when you want to eat in the future, you can just buy it without having to do anything yourself.
Moreover, it can also add a fresh dish to the restaurant.
She blew the ink and handed over the recipe: "Follow this recipe to process eggs, duck eggs, and goose eggs. The eggs you make are called preserved eggs. However, the production cycle is a bit long. It can only be eaten in one and a half to two months. If you are in a hurry, If you want to make money, you can only give up..."
"Just make preserved eggs." Zhu Huzi swallowed his saliva and said, "My grandma said, Aunt Zhao must listen to her golden words. Since Aunt Zhao comes up with the recipe, Aunt Zhao has a share in this business, but, I don’t know how to divide it specifically..."
Cheng Wanwan laughed. Although this child was smart, he also knew that some advantages should not be taken in vain.
She asked Sidan to get two pieces of paper and asked Cheng Zhao to write two basic agreements. She would only provide the technology and not care about anything else, and would take 10% of the profit.
"Ten percent is too little." Zhu Huzi shook his head, "Cousin Cheng, change it to thirty-seven percent."
"You silly boy, you have to buy eggs, make preserved eggs, and manage sales. If you don't make any money, you will bear the losses." Cheng Wanwan shook his head, "Everyone takes a step back, twenty-eight cents."
The matter was settled just like that.
Zhu Huzi went back with the prescription, and Mrs. Zhu naturally supported her eldest grandson in this business unconditionally.
The grandfather and grandson immediately began to buy eggs and duck eggs for the whole village. Dashu and Xiaoshu, who lived in Zhu's house, also helped and shouted for the whole village.
It was still snowing, but the people in the village didn't feel cold. Every household took out the dozens of eggs and duck eggs they had saved, took them to Zhu's house, and then exchanged them for a handful of copper coins.
"The Chinese New Year is coming soon. If I have money this year, I can finally have a good New Year."
"In previous years, we could only eat dumplings on New Year's Eve. They were dumplings with more cabbage and less pork. This year, I want all the dumplings to be filled with meat."
"Isn't that right? I made almost two taels of silver from Dashan Niang this year, so I can eat meat freely."
The people in the village were very happy.
It is now the 17th or 18th day of the twelfth lunar month. In previous years, people have started to buy new year goods at this time, but the ground is covered with snow, a thick layer, and some have already frozen, making it easy to fall when walking. The villagers have to wait for the snow. After it melts, go cut the meat and buy new year's goods.
Cheng Wanwan's family's braised meat business has also stopped. Firstly, it's snowing and the road is inconvenient. Secondly, as the New Year is approaching, pork is too expensive and the cost has increased too much. It is not cost-effective to make braised meat. Wait until after the New Year to resume work.
Because of the heavy snowfall, Ou Pond has also stopped working, and only the soap workshop is still running.
The workshop is burning firewood all day long, and some vegetables such as green onions and leeks are planted at the foot of the wall. They are growing well and are lush green.
Cheng Wanwan cut a large handful of leeks and planned to make a leek box for the children.
Everyone in the family has been working hard these days. They are tired from working and studying. They can get a sense of satisfaction by eating something new.
The leek box mainly consumes oil, because it is fried food, which gives people an even greater sense of satisfaction.
A large plate of leek boxes was served, and the fragrance lingered in the room for a long time.
Kong Xiu Niang had long been used to the Zhao family's food, so she couldn't help but eat two boxes of leeks, and sighed: "It's been snowing for two days, and it feels like it's getting heavier and heavier. I plan to go home on the 20th of the twelfth lunar month."
Cheng Wanwan looked outside the house, and saw the goose-feather heavy snow falling continuously. When he stepped on the ground, it could reach his ankles.
It started to snow, and she was very happy, because auspicious snow heralds a good harvest.
But the snow is getting heavier and the temperature continues to drop, which always makes people feel uneasy.
