Yang took the white fox scarf and turned it over and over.
"Such good things can't be bought outside."
Now that the family has money, she and Huo Erhuai are willing to buy things for their children, but such a high-quality fur, with not even a stray hair on it, and the entire skin being so complete, cannot be bought even with money.
"It's a gift from the nobles." Huo Xi hugged Huo An and teased him, and replied.
"That's it. Common people like us who have no means or means can't buy such good things. We An'an are very lucky."
Mrs. Yang happily put the white fox scarf away for her son and planned to give it to her son when it gets colder.
Her son An An has enjoyed great blessings.
His brothers, sisters, and uncle all came from hard times. He was the only one who was well fed while still in his mother's womb. Now he also has a wet nurse to take care of him. She is usually busy, and not only the wet nurse, but also everyone in the village will lend a hand and compete for help.
Rushing to hug him.
He is a very lucky child.
"Sister, give me a hug, An'an." Huo Nian followed, raising his head and stretching out his hands to hug his brother.
"You can't hold me."
"I can hold it!"
Seeing Huo Nian's insistence, Huo Xi asked him to sit on a chair, put An An in his arms, and protected him.
Huo Nian hugged An An and grinned. Sitting on the chair also used strength, and he could free up a hand to gently scratch An An's soft little face.
"My brother is so soft. Ouch, give me a bite."
He lowered his head and opened his mouth as if to bite An An, making An An grin and wave his fists to push his brother away.
Seeing that he was holding him securely and that his mother and nanny were with him, Huo Xi told him and went to the silkworm room to see the silkworms.
Zhuangzi has never raised silkworms, but in the Jiangnan area, there are many people growing cotton, mulberry and silkworms, and there are many weaver households. The income from growing mulberry and raising silkworms is higher than the output value of farming. There are sericulture people everywhere. Huo Erhuai came from Jiahu
It is easy to breed silkworms in the area.
There was room for setting up a silkworm house in Zhuangzi last year. The silkworm house was set up in the spring of this year and the manpower for raising silkworms was also found.
By the time Huo Xi went to see it, the silkworms had been raised until they were white and fat. They were already in their fifth instar. This is when they eat the most. They need to be fed at least four to five times a day.
It will start spinning cocoons in a few days.
It's getting cold soon, so this batch should be the last.
Several village women were carrying baskets on their backs and scattering mulberry leaves on the silkworm beds. Huo Xi leaned over and stared at them.
After watching for a while, I turned around and almost stepped on someone.
She turned around and saw that Huo Nian had followed her at some point and was quietly next to her, staring attentively at the fat silkworms that were wriggling and eating mulberry leaves.
"Sister, there are so many silkworms." They were densely packed, like insects, still squirming and rustling, which made Huo Nian get goosebumps all over his body.
Huo Xi gave him a funny look. When she saw that she was about to move, Pi Xiaozi still held her hand tightly and comforted her with a smile: "Don't be afraid, don't bite. These silkworms are good things."
"I, I'm not afraid."
That's right, Huo Nian felt goosebumps all over his body when he saw it.
Seeing that he was feeling unwell, Huo Xi led him out of the silkworm room. Seeing that he was greatly relieved, it was quite funny.
I dragged him to the village and saw that not far from the silkworm house, there were some elderly farm servants doing something with bamboo, so I dragged him over to have a look.
"These are bamboo clusters that help silkworms make cocoons." Several village servants saw that they were two young masters and explained with a smile.
"What is a bamboo cluster?" Pi Xiaozi knelt down to look.
"These silkworms are about to become mature silkworms, and they are ready to go up the mountain to spin cocoons. At this time, we need to make something for them to go up the mountain. These bamboo clusters are to help them go up the mountain to spin silk and spin cocoons. When they are ready,
The cocoons can be sold for money, or peeled out and silk can be obtained."
Upon hearing this, Huo Nian was very interested and moved two steps forward, asking questions from time to time.
Huo Xi frowned when she heard that silkworm farmers now use bamboo branches, branches or bamboo clusters to help silkworms spin cocoons. Then during the process of spinning cocoons, someone has to guard the silkworm room, otherwise the birds and wasps will
, insects and the like can easily get in and eat the silkworms.
Huo Xi thought for a while, then went to find Qi Da and asked him to take someone to peel some hemp skin.
Qi Da didn't know what he wanted to do, but as the head of the village, he would do whatever the master asked them to do. This year, the village raised silkworms, and by the end of the year, everyone would get a lot more reward money. Just thinking about it made him feel excited.
After the servants peeled back the hemp skins, Huo Xi directed them to boil and dry the hemp skins.
Before she could make a move, the day passed.
Huo Nian followed her to see her little brother in Zhuangzi, and played hard with Bao Kang on Zhuangzi for a whole day. Before midnight the next day, Huo Erhuai hugged him while he was still sleeping and boarded the boat.
This kid only has one day of rest, and he still has to go back to the school to attend classes.
Mrs. Yang was on the dock at Zhuangzi, looking distressed as she watched Huo Erhuai carrying Huo Nian, who was asleep and unaware of his life, on board the ship.
Huo Xi, who was standing by to see them off, said, "Otherwise, mother can take An An back to the city, and she can still take care of Nian'er."
"It's okay, Mom. He has grown up now and can no longer cling to you and dad like he used to when he was a child. Mom still takes An'an to the village, so that she doesn't have to worry so much about what she eats and uses."
The streets of Beijing are still full of people in white clothes. They eat meat in secret and dare not eat it openly. Although the period of ban on slaughter has passed, the emperor is still a vegetarian, and civil and military officials and ordinary people do not dare to make too much of a show of it.
Buy meat to eat.
This is the time to gain popularity, and the guards in uniform are all watching.
I'm afraid this Spring Festival will be a little less lively.
Huo Xi went back to catch up on her sleep. After a nap, she got up and ordered the servants to tie a hemp rope net with hemp skin.
Huo Erhuai came back from the city and curiously asked her what she wanted to do.
"I plan to use this hemp rope net to make silkworm clusters on the silkworm bed, and then cover them with a dense layer of mesh to add a barrier to them, which will facilitate the silkworms to form cocoons and reduce the death of the silkworms.
Rate."
Huo Erhuai also helped after hearing this.
"Dad, how many times have you formed cocoons this year?"
"I've made three cocoons. Dad calculated that one acre of mulberry field can produce seventy kilograms of cocoons."
"so little?"
The two Zhuangzi combined have only thirty-five acres of mulberry fields, and one mu of mulberry field can produce cocoons worth less than one stone. If you calculate it this way, if you raise silkworms four times a year, the two Zhuangzi can only harvest less than one hundred stone cocoons.
A pound of silkworm cocoons costs 100 taels, and a pound of silk costs 500 taels. Calculating this, the income of two villagers from raising silkworms in a year is less than 1,000 taels of silver?
This cocooning rate is somewhat low.
Huo Erhuai comforted her: "This is already a lot. Originally, neither Zhuangzi ever planted mulberry trees or raised silkworms, so this is equivalent to a thousand taels gained in vain."
How could it be for nothing?
The slopes of the two Zhuangzi fields were left empty in the past. They only needed some shrubs and some firewood in winter, which was a waste of soil. Now they have been cleared away, planted with mulberry trees, and human and material resources have been invested. How can this be achieved?
Sericulture in the Jiangnan area is already mature. Huo Xi is not very satisfied with this result.