The principle of the nutrient bowl soil making machine is similar to that of the briquette machine. With experience, Blacksmith Zhao made it quickly.
Cheng Wanwan wrote a note about the details of cotton planting and handed it to Zhao Dashan. She left all cotton planting matters to this son... Of course, the main reason was that she had never planted it herself and actually didn't understand it very well. , some descriptions of soil moisture and fertility, she could not accurately grasp, for fear that too much fertility would burn the fragile cotton seeds.
In addition, we need to grow peppers, which are more flavorful than dogwood and can make more delicious dishes.
While busy with farming, there is another big thing.
February has arrived as promised, and this year’s county examination is scheduled for the second day of February. Before this year, everyone in Dahe Village did not know what the county examination was, but because most of the children are now studying in school, the villagers have been influenced by it. I also started to pay attention to this day.
However, only three people in the village can participate in this exam.
One is Zhao Sidan, the other is Zhao Tiezhu, and there is Master Yu’s son, Yu Zhan.
On the night of the first day of February, Master Yu summoned three children to explain the details: "This county examination is scheduled to be divided into four tests. Each test takes one day, and the next test will be held every three days. Only those who passed the previous test will be eligible to participate in the next test." , I hope you can get good grades, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t have good grades. You are all still young. There will be many opportunities in the future, and even if you don’t study, you can do many other things... As the saying goes, three hundred and sixty lines , become the number one scholar..."
Zhao Sidan secretly clenched his fists. If Master He hadn't done evil, perhaps he could give up easily after failure.
But this incident made him realize that a powerless person could only let himself be slaughtered in front of those big shots.
He wants to go further, he wants to stand higher, and he hopes that everyone in his family will no longer bow his head and stop worrying about the fish on the chopping board.
Yu Zhan also pursed his lips secretly.
He must succeed this time...because, if he fails, his father will have reason to tell him to stop studying.
He knew what his father had gone through when he was young. He studied in order to go to the capital, to the court, and to clear his father's grievances in front of the world.
Only Zhao Tiezhu seriously wrote down one sentence, three hundred and sixty lines, and he was the number one scholar. If he failed this time, what could he do?
The three children didn't sleep well that night.
In the early morning of the next day, before dawn, we were ready to leave for the city for reference.
Zhao Ergou was in charge of driving the carriage. The three children took the four treasures of the study, the lunch meal, and the kettle, got on the carriage, and headed to Ping'an County to take the exam.
Cheng Wanwan also went with her. Firstly, she was a little worried. Secondly, as a person who had been taking exams since childhood, she was really curious about ancient examination rooms.
Before dawn, Ping'an County was bustling with activity, and pedestrians were all heading in the same direction.
Next to the county government office, there is a place enclosed by a wooden fence, which is a temporary examination room. The rooms are large and small, facing north and facing south. There is a main entrance with a main entrance with a sign of "Dragon Gate". After the candidates enter, they are searched and then wait here for roll call.
Cheng Wanwan stood outside, like every parent, standing on tiptoe to look inside.
The youngest people who took the exam were six or seven years old, and the older ones were in their twenties and thirties. Regardless of their age, the candidates who entered were very quiet and stood in line in a neat manner.
After the roll call at the dragon gate, I had to be a guarantor when I entered. Fortunately, there was no suspicious candidate among the candidates this time, and the exam started directly after the roll call.
The exam lasted a whole day, and everyone was eating, drinking, and eating in the exam room.
After Cheng Wanwan watched the three children enter with her own eyes, she turned around and went to their restaurant with Zhao Ergou for a walk.
It was originally scheduled to open at the end of winter, but due to the refugee epidemic and snowstorm, it was delayed day by day.
After two months of absence, the table in the restaurant was covered with a thick layer of dust, and when I touched it, my fingers were completely black.
"Er Gou, find someone to clean up and down the restaurant." Cheng Wanwan said, "And contact Yan Tiezi and let him get ready. He can come to work in a few days. .”
She thought about it in her mind. The chef Huiniang, the assistant cook Chunhua, the waiter Eryan Tiezi, and the shopkeeper Ergou were barely enough. Originally, Cheng Wanwan wanted to hire a dishwasher, but Chunhua insisted that she could After taking over the job, I didn't want Cheng Wanwan to waste this money. There happened to be no suitable candidate, so it was okay to wait for two days.
There will be activities held three days before the opening, and the four of them will definitely be busy. When the time comes, she will bring Dawang to help and get through the busiest three days first.
The opening time is set for five days.
Cheng Wanwan did not wait for the children to finish the exam in Ping'an County, but went back first. She did not attach much importance to the results, but to participation. Regardless of success or not, this was a valuable experience in the children's lives.
In spring, Dahe Village is booming. Everything on the mountain comes to life, and all kinds of delicious ingredients grow. The most eye-catching ones are spring bamboo shoots.
There was a light rain the night before yesterday, and in the past two days, all the bamboo shoots appeared as if they were free.
People in Xindahe Village are running out of food, so they rely on these bamboo shoots to survive.
Cheng Wanwan's family couldn't spare the manpower to go to the mountains to find wild vegetables, so she set up a small stall in front of her home——
One pound of corn is exchanged for three pounds of wild vegetables.
The people in Xindahe Village went crazy, sending wild vegetables to Cheng Wanwan's house all day long.
The most common ones were spring bamboo shoots, mugwort, and some newly grown toon leaves... After the portion was almost the same, Cheng Wanwan closed the stall.
The meal in the evening was quite rich.
Spring bamboo shoots are very tender and delicious no matter how you cook them. Make a braised pork with spring bamboo shoots.
Wormwood has a refreshing fragrance. This breath of spring makes people salivate. Chop it into meatballs.
After soaking the toon leaves in water, beat a few eggs to make toon pancakes as a staple food.
Wu Huiniang was in charge of the cooking, and the meal was ready in a short time. The food was all simmering in the pot until Zhao Sidan came back after his exam.
Cheng Wanwan walked to the back yard, where a nutrient field was opened specifically for cultivating cotton seeds. Zhao Dashan was making a nutrient bowl. The machine pressed it on the soft soil, then lifted it up, kicked it with his feet, and a nutrient bowl was created. It is ready and placed neatly in the field. There is a small sunken hole directly above each nutrient bowl, and the processed cotton seeds can be put in.
After finishing the field, sprinkle a fine layer of soil and plant ash on top of the nutrient pot, and then cover it with straw to keep the soil warm. Under multiple protections, these cotton seeds will slowly sprout and grow to the same length. After two to three leaves appear, the seedlings can be thinned and planted...
Cheng Wanwan squatted in the ground, wearing linen gloves on his hands, helping to place the nutrition bowl.
"Da Shan Niang, what are you doing?"
Li Zheng didn't see Cheng Wanwan in the house and walked directly to the backyard.
Then he saw Cheng Wanwan and Zhao Dashan, mother and son, planting something unknown, and he couldn't understand it for a while.
Originally, he came to ask about the county examination. The first person in the family was taking the imperial examination, so he was inevitably nervous, so he asked Cheng Wanwan to talk to him to relieve his stress.
But as soon as he saw something strange in the field, Li Zheng forgot about the county examination and squatted in the field.
"This is Baidiezi, a crop only found in the south. When Baidiezi matures, it becomes white like clouds. It is very soft and warm. It can be made into clothes and quilts to keep out the cold." Cheng Wanwan said while busy. , "These are the seeds I asked merchants to bring from the south. I happen to have two hundred acres of extra land at home, so I plan to try planting them."
Li Zheng frowned: "Can things from the south also be grown here?"
"How will you know if you don't try?" Cheng Wanwan placed the nutrient bowl, then bent down and began to put the cotton seeds, "If it is really planted, there will be no need to work hard to save catkins, reeds, flowers, chicken feathers and duck feathers, anyway, the seeds Yes, let’s give it a try. If Uncle Li Zheng’s family has some land to plant it, he can come directly to my house to pick up the seedlings in half a month.”
Li Zheng nodded immediately: "Plant, of course."
Dashan Niang’s golden words say that if you can farm, you will definitely be able to farm.
Li Zheng bent over and helped too. He couldn't just take the seeds from Dashan's family for nothing, so he had to help in some way.
While he was busy, the sound of wheels came from the door. Cheng Wanwan took off his gloves and stood up: "It should be Sidan and the others who are back."
