Lao Zhou secretly returned to the room. Qian was putting away shoe soles on the couch by the window. These were for her sons. They often go out. Thicker soles are better for the feet and are more durable.
Because there was a screen in the middle, she didn't see Lao Zhoutou poking his head, but when she heard the movement, she raised her voice and asked, "Have they decorated the new house?"
Old Zhou was startled and almost fell over. He said "ah" and replied: "Everything is almost arranged."
He stood and waited for a while. When he saw that his old wife had no intention of talking anymore, he turned around and quietly entered the inner room.
He took out the two strings of money from his arms, groped deep in the cabinet at the end of the bed, and finally took out a box. After opening it, he quickly stuffed the two strings of money into it, and then glanced at the door.
No one came over, so he breathed a sigh of relief and stuffed the box back again.
Lao Zhou closed the cupboard door, stood and looked at it and felt satisfied, then turned around and went out with his hands behind his back.
He said to Mr. Qian: "I'll go to the front and have a look. Man Bao has bought a lot of eggs."
Qian felt that his voice was two points higher. He lowered his head and took a moment to think about it. He didn't know what kind of eggs Man Bao had bought, so he responded casually.
Lao Zhoutou went to the front.
Zhou Dalang had already found his two younger brothers, and also asked his third son and others who lived in the front yard to help carry the basket back to the yard.
They were also surprised that Manbao bought so many eggs. Xiao Qian thought for a moment and said, "Isn't this for eating, but for hatching chicks?"
Zhou Lang said: "It's useless to ask me. You have to ask Lijun about this matter. She must know Man Bao's idea."
Zhou Dalang turned around and asked, "Where is Lijun?"
Mrs. Fang said: "She went out to deliver moisturizing ointment to someone. It will probably take a while before she comes back."
Xiao Qian had already rolled up her sleeves and said, "Let's do some inventory first. We can't stop working if she doesn't come back."
Zhou Dalang sighed, feeling that these children had their own ideas, but they still had money and big ideas, so no one could stop them.
He turned to Zhou Lang who was standing lazily and said, "What are you still doing? Let's go find some thicker cloth to cover the wing where the three children often play, and light an oil lamp to see if it's a hatching egg."
Zhou Lang opened his mouth wide, pointed at the baskets and said, "You want to look at so many eggs one by one?"
Zhou Dalang asked: "Otherwise, if one of them is missed, wouldn't it be a waste to hatch it together?"
Zhou Lang was speechless and was pulled by Fang, so he could only work silently.
The couple covered the windows with cloth, then closed the door and the room became dark. Zhou Lang came over with several oil lamps and sighed: "If you ask me, our family is not short of this egg money right now."
, once it’s hatched, it’s hatched. If the chicks don’t hatch, the rotten eggs are also useful.”
Fang said angrily: "What's the use? Can I use it to hit your head?"
She said: "If you are not a family, you don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are. Do you know how much money our family spends every day now?"
"Ask Lijun about this. I only know that people of all ages make money from it every day."
Mrs. Fang knew that he was a talker, so she slapped him and said, "Be more honest. Dad will come up and hear you later. Let's see if he beats you."
Zhou Lang stopped talking.
Several people carried two baskets of eggs into the house, lit oil lamps and began to read.
It is not difficult to read hatching eggs. Everyone in Lao Zhou's family can do it. Sanzi and the others couldn't do it at first, but after Zhou Lang taught them, they can do it.
One oil lamp can be shared by two people. Zhou Lang walked around each room and took out six oil lamps.
Xiao Qian brought a new basket and spread a layer of empty rice husks underneath it as the farmers had prepared. Then everyone looked at the eggs and confirmed that they were hatching eggs and put them in the basket here.
After everyone has spread a layer of eggs, they put the empty rice husks in the basket over there. After exposing the eggs on the next layer, they continue to look at it. Then they build another layer of eggs. As long as there are no gaps and there are empty rice husks to make them.
Buffering, generally eggs will not be damaged.
After Lao Zhou came up, he naturally had to follow suit. Even Mrs. Liu in the other side yard heard about it and brought Mrs. Zheng and several maids over to join in the fun.
Everyone was crowded into a room, and the people who knew how to teach them couldn't teach. After seeing two people, Mrs. Liu felt that her eyes were sore. She shook her head and said, "I can't do it anymore. As we get older, we can't see clearly when we focus our eyes."
"
Mrs. Qian also came. When she heard this, she smiled and said: "My in-laws read too much. I saw that Man Bao's eyes became red after reading for a long time, and they shed tears easily when the wind blows. Later she read a medical book and said this
It's also an illness. Since then, I haven't dared to read for such a long time. Why don't you give your eyes a rest and let them rest?"
She smiled and said: "If you are bored, you can just talk to us."
Mrs. Liu responded with a smile and asked: "With so many eggs, they must be raised in the workplace after hatching. Do Manbao and the others plan to raise them themselves or leave them to the tenants?"
Qian sighed, "I guess they must be raised by tenant farmers. I haven't heard them say that they need to hire additional laborers. Raising so many chickens together is easy to get sick, but raising them separately will make them sicker."
Better.”
Mrs. Liu nodded.
Lijun confirmed their idea when she came back from delivering the medicine. She said: "I have reserved the hens with someone. After we see the eggs tonight, my fourth uncle and I will deliver these chickens and eggs together tomorrow."
Let’s go to Pucun.”
Lao Zhou almost jumped, "You even bought hens?"
"I bought it. I bought a hundred of them. I asked my eldest aunt. It is best to put twenty-one or two eggs in one henhouse. More eggs would be troublesome. I just have one for each household. When the time comes, they will hatch.
You can also let it carry the chicks to prevent them from being caught by the eagles in the sky."
Old Zhou asked: "Have you ever calculated how much you can earn back after spending so much money?"
"Forget it," Li Jun said, "I have already agreed with them. If I give them twenty eggs, at least sixteen chicks will hatch out. At least twelve will be alive by June next year. Only
If twelve or more animals survive, we will get a score of 40 or 6, if there are more than 8 animals but less than 12, we will get 50 or 50 points. If the number of animals raised in the end is less than 8, then they are all ours."
"If you raise a hen poorly, you'll have to give us a hen, forget the eggs. If you raise a hen well, you'll still be given twenty hatching eggs next year," Lijun said, "Grandpa, we've already done the math when we bought the eggs.
There are only two hundred roosters in total, and the rest are all hens. If you do the math, even if only one thousand of the two thousand eggs become big chickens, we will have five hundred chickens in a 50-50 ratio.
Calculating the probability, there are about 125 roosters, and the remaining 375 are hens. They will be able to lay eggs next June. Even if they can only lay one egg the next day, there will be 100 eggs on that day.
Eighty-seven and a half, those five hundred chickens are all ours, and of course all the eggs they lay are ours. In other words, in just eleven days we can recover two thousand eggs, and there are five more.
Hundreds of chickens, do you think it’s profitable?”