Yun Mo raised her eyebrows, "Pick so many, can they finish them all?"
"Of course they can't finish it all. They pick all the big and good ones. One watermelon weighs more than ten kilograms, which is enough for the whole family to eat for a day. People in the village told my mother that my uncle and aunt picked them every day.
The watermelons are sold in other villages.”
When they got closer, they saw baskets and poles placed behind Peng Fang and his wife. There were already five or six large, round watermelons in the two baskets.
"Second uncle and second aunt, are you busy?"
As soon as he saw Yun Mo, Peng Fang immediately asked about his eldest son Huang Zhao.
"Yun Mo, where is my Xiao Zhao? Where is he now?"
"I heard from his former co-workers on the construction site that he went to the north to make a fortune. Why, hasn't he contacted his family yet?"
"Please tell me clearly, where in the north did Xiao Zhao go?"
Perhaps because she was too worried about her eldest son, Peng Fang's tone was quite aggressive.
Yun Mo didn't care either. Although she hated Peng Fang's petty nature, she could understand her feelings as a mother.
"Second aunt, after cousin Huang Zhao went to Jiangshi, except for visiting my mother once, he never contacted me at other times. He didn't tell any of us when he left. I really don't know what he is doing now.
where."
Seeing that she couldn't find out the whereabouts of her eldest son, Peng Fang couldn't help but express her anger: "Yun Mo, Xiao Zhao is alone in Jiang City and is not familiar with the place. You don't pay much attention to me. How did you become a cousin!"
"Second aunt, when cousin Huang Zhao went to Jiang City, you never mentioned a word to me from the beginning to the end, but now you blame me for not taking care of him. What's the point of this?
Also, cousin Huang Zhao was in Jiang City to join Yunyao. The Yun family also arranged a good job for him. He quit the job without even asking for a job and ran to the north. How could I, my cousin, have to do it?
Are you watching over him 24 hours a day?"
Peng Fang was speechless.
Huang Jianguo opened his mouth to put in good words for his wife, "Yunmo, your second aunt didn't mean that. Xiao Zhao has not been in contact with his family since he went to the north. Your second aunt and I are very worried, afraid that something will happen to him."
Thinking of Huang Zhao's situation, Yun Mo couldn't help but soften her tone a bit.
"If I know the whereabouts of cousin Huang Zhao, I will definitely inform you."
"Hey, okay, Yun Mo, we are also a family after all. You should be more concerned about your cousin Xiao Zhao's affairs."
Yun Mo was noncommittal, her eyes falling on the basket behind the couple.
"Second uncle, second aunt, can you finish picking so many melons?"
Huang Jianguo said with a smile: "After you finish eating, this watermelon is very sweet. Your second aunt and I can eat one in one meal."
"Having said that, my aunt grew these melons. It's okay for you to pick two occasionally and eat them, but it doesn't make sense to pick them every day with a basket?"
Peng Fang put her hands on her hips and snorted: "There was a drought when this melon seedling was first planted. If your second uncle and I hadn't helped carry water for watering, this melon wouldn't have grown!"
Huang Qingning on the side said angrily: "I just helped carry a few loads of water. How many melons have you picked? It's several hundred kilograms. Isn't that enough?"
"Whoever picks a few hundred kilograms, at most a hundred kilograms. Your mother can't control it anyway. Instead of letting this melon rot on the ground, we might as well help eat it."
Huang Qingning was so angry that her face turned red, "Where are the melons rotting in the ground? Let outsiders come to steal the melons, but our own people are taking advantage of them. My mother has only sold several acres of melon land for less than 500 kilograms.
I can’t even earn public food money!”
Perhaps considering the large number of people on Yunmo's side, Peng Fang and Huang Jianguo didn't argue too much, and hurriedly picked two baskets of watermelons and left.
After watching the couple walk away, Yun Mo turned around and patted Huang Qingning's shoulder comfortingly.
"Okay, don't be angry, wait until I think of a way to help my aunt sell all the melons in this field."
"Are you serious, cousin?"
"I lied to you that I was a puppy, okay?"
"Cousin, you won't lie to me, you are the best."
Seeing the smile on Huang Qingning's face, Zeng Fang and the others also relaxed, laughing and rushing into the melon field looking for big watermelons with excitement on their faces.
Yun Mo and Huang Qingning walked behind calmly.
"Qingning, are there many people in the village who come to steal melons from the fields?"
Huang Qingning sighed, "Our family is the only one in the village that grows watermelons. My mother can't stand it alone. People always come to steal melons at night. In fact, it's okay to steal one or two to eat back. But some people are not satisfied and just eat them."
I came here with a basket to steal. Originally, the watermelon harvest was quite good this year, but I haven’t made any money yet, and I might even have to pay for it.”
These days, you need to pay public grain for farming. On average, one acre of land costs about 100 kilograms.
Take corn as an example. One hundred kilograms of corn costs almost 12 yuan. Adding fertilizer and seeds, an acre of melon field costs 40 yuan to make back the investment. Anything over 40 yuan is profitable.
"How much can a pound of watermelon from this field be sold for?"
"If you pick melons, you can sell them in the town for 8 cents. If you sell them in the village, you can sell them for 5 cents at most. Now everyone comes to steal melons to eat, and no one buys them. My mother can only pick melons to sell in the town, and she can only pick half at a time.
There were too many to bear, and she couldn't bear them.
The better ones can be sold for 5 or 6 yuan at a time. Sometimes if they don't sell, they will be sold half and given away, otherwise they have to pick them up and take them home."
Calculated at a price of 8 cents, five hundred kilograms only costs 40 yuan, which is not even enough to pay for public grain, let alone fertilizer and seeds.
Although a lot of them have been stolen, there are still quite a lot of watermelons in the fields. They are all big and round and very pleasing to the eye. If they can be sold in the city, they can be sold for about 10 cents to 15 cents.
Unfortunately, there is no road in the village, so there is no way to transport such good watermelons in large quantities.
"Momo? Are you really back? I saw it from a distance just now, and I thought I saw it wrong."
The melon fields were not connected together. Liu Zhi was working in another melon field, and when he saw Yun Mo, he came over excitedly.
"Auntie."
Seeing Liu Zhi sweating profusely and her face dark and red from the sun, Yun Mo couldn't help but feel a little sad and distressed in her heart.
How hard and difficult it must be for a woman to manage the crops of a family of seven or eight people.
Liu Zhi seemed particularly happy about Yun Mo's return, and stopped working in the fields. He helped pick two large watermelons and went home with them.
At home, Yang Xinghua had boiled water, tied up a big rooster, and was waiting for Liu Zhi to come back and help butcher it.
"There's nothing to entertain you in the countryside, just a chicken. I hope you won't find it too shabby."
Zeng Fang smiled and said: "How could it be possible? Grandma, you are so good at raising chickens. This chicken is so big."
"Don't you know this? This is a rooster. A rooster can weigh more than ten kilograms. This one is quite small!"
Hearing Yao Cheng's complaint, Yang Xinghua smiled cheerfully and said: "Yes, I bought this rooster in March and fed it for more than four months. It is not big enough yet. It will be fat after feeding it until the Chinese New Year."