Not long after Zhufeng followed Old Man Xu to hoe, Old Huang and the others woke up. They were all very embarrassed and hurriedly came to help in the field. Old Man Xu glanced at them and saw that their hands were also in good shape.
No scolding.
After working hard until dawn, the grass in the two fields was finally hoeed. The girl in the house ran out and shouted: "Master, it's time to eat." Seeing that there were still a few people in the field, the girl opened her mouth, but didn't say anything.
Ran back.
Old man Xu stretched his waist and stood up. His face looked a little painful, and he was obviously tired. As he staggered back, he said:
"It's already dawn, please come down the mountain. My granddaughter only cooked for me and my grandson. I'm not polite, old man, and I won't let you eat."
Lao Huang and the others couldn't help but mutter, "We have been busy all morning and we don't even have a mouth to drink."
Zhufeng signaled them to hold back first, and then followed Old Man Xu with a smile, "Old man, it's really tiring for you to plant so much land by yourself. You can keep those medicinal seeds you have, so you might as well sell them to me.
I really need these medicinal seeds. The tenants depend on the land for their livelihood, and the weather is dry this year. The crops in the land are not even enough to feed themselves.
It’s pretty good now, as we are eating last year’s surplus grain, but when the autumn harvest is over, the surplus grain will be used up. If there is no silver grain to guarantee the food supply, a large number of people will starve in the coming year.”
Old man Xu chuckled: "Boss, I'm very virtuous. Old man, I'm not as noble as you. If I don't understand these things, it has nothing to do with me."
"Old man." Zhufeng followed him into the hospital, "What will it take for you to be willing to sell the medicinal seeds to me?"
"I still have about ten acres of medicinal fields. If you have nothing to do, go and help me hoe the weeds in that field." Old man Xu said casually.
When Zhufeng heard this, he hurriedly responded and happily ran to find Lao Huang and the others to hoe the grass.
...
More than ten acres of land is a lot, but it is not that difficult for six strong men. Zhufeng and the others worked hard until noon. They ate hastily eaten dry food and continued working until the afternoon was over.
All the land has been plowed clean.
The six of them were so tired that they couldn't straighten their backs. They sat on the ridge of the field under the shade of a tree to rest and chat.
"If the old man is wise, we should be able to go to Baojia Village tonight. The people in Wangjiawan said there are also medicinal farmers there."
"Speaking of which, it's not easy for the old man to farm so much land by himself. My family of five only farm about ten acres, and he did all the work for my family by himself. How did he do it?"
"Growing medicinal herbs is definitely not as tiring as growing crops."
However, Zhufeng smiled and shook his head: "Growing medicinal herbs is more tiring than growing crops. Medicinal herbs need to be intensively cultivated and cared for one by one. Today we will hoe weeds, tomorrow we will remove insects, and the next day we will fertilize. We have to prune and take care of them. It is not that easy.
.”
Lao Huang wiped the sweat from his face and said, "It doesn't matter if I'm tired. As long as I have money to earn, I'll do it no matter how tired I am."
A group of people laughed, and someone joked: "Old Huang must be dreaming of getting rich now. Among us, your family is the one with the most sharecropping. I only have five acres of land, and you can at least get half as much as me."
Zhufeng listened to the heated discussion among several people, then stood up and said, "You guys have a rest, I'll go see the old man."
"I'll go too. Boss Zhui, you see that people are kind and easy to bully, so someone else might want to bully you." Wu Da, who was a muscular man, stood up.
Zhufeng changed his mind and asked Wu Da to follow him.
When the two came to the front of the yard, the sleeping dog got up energetically and barked wildly, waking up old man Xu who was enjoying the cool air under the house.
Old man Xu glanced at the two people at the entrance of the courtyard, then closed his eyes and fell asleep again, shaking the cattail leaf fan in his hand, and the rocking chair creaked under him, looking very comfortable.
Wu Da seemed very angry at Old Man Xu's neglect. They had been tired all day, but the old man didn't even say a word of thanks, so he complained in a low voice: "This old man really knows how to enjoy it. We are working, but he doesn't even say a nice word."
.”
Zhufeng signaled him to calm down, then pushed open the courtyard door and went in with a smile on his face, "Old man, the weeds in the field have been hoeed."
"Well, thank you very much. Let's hurry down the mountain while it's still dark, so as not to have to lend me haystacks again tonight." Old man Xu didn't even open his eyes as he slowly shook his cattail leaf fan.
Wu Da, who was standing behind Zhufeng, was suddenly ignited. He pointed at old man Xu and shouted: "You old man, you don't know how to show appreciation. You promised to buy our medicinal seeds after you hoe the grass. Are you going to keep your word?"
Old man Xu took a sip of cold water and said slowly, "When did I say this? I just saw that you were idle, so I found something for you to do so that you would not have to pester me."
"You..." Wu was so angry that he was about to curse loudly, but Zhufeng held him down, frowning and shaking his head.
Wu Dajia sighed and waved his hands, "Boss Zhu, this old man just thinks you are easy to bully and deliberately lied to you."
"Don't talk." Zhufeng scolded him, then turned to old man Xu and said: "Old man, we are all farmers. Farmers are quick to talk. If you have something to say, you will come and say it with your mouth. But there is no malice in it. Please don't interfere with me."
.”
But old man Xu laughed and said, "It's useless to talk to the old man about being a good person and a bad person in front of me. You'd better get down the mountain quickly, otherwise I won't even borrow the haystack tonight."
"Are you speaking in human language?" Wu Da couldn't hold back his breath, his face turned red and he wanted to rush forward again.
Zhufeng grabbed him and frowned, "Okay, stop talking."
After holding Wu Da down, Zhufeng said to Old Man Xu: "Old man, I really need this batch of medicinal seeds. Why don't you sell them?
You have planted a lot in the field, and I don’t think you want to keep it at home. I haven’t said the price yet, so it shouldn’t be a matter of money. I really can’t think of any other reasons.”
Old man Xu glanced at him and said, "Don't be so smart. There's no reason. I just don't like it and don't want to sell it to you."
"You old man, don't be so shameless." Wu Da was completely furious. He rolled up his sleeves and pointed at Old Man Xu and scolded him.
"You are so shameless. You can't spit out ivory from your dog's mouth." The granddaughter in the room immediately ran out after hearing the sound, pointed at Wu and cursed back angrily.
"Wu Da." Zhufeng scolded, "You go over there first, I'll be back in a moment."
"Boss Zhu, don't be so good-tempered. This grandfather and grandson have their own intentions. No wonder they live alone in the mountains and behave like this. No one dares to say a word to them."
When the granddaughter heard this, she was so angry that she grabbed the broom on the wall board and tried to beat her, "Get out of here, we can sell our own medicinal materials if we want to. If they are not sold, do you still want to rob them?"
Zhufeng quickly stood between the two of them, and comforted his granddaughter, "Don't be angry, farmers have a straight temper." He turned around and pushed Wu Da out of the courtyard gate.
Wu Ziran wouldn't really hit an old man and a little girl. He could only spit in anger, "Bah, I'm not surprised."
"Okay, stop talking." Zhufeng pushed Wu Da out and patted his shoulder comfortingly, "You go over first, I'll be back in a moment."
Wu Da didn't want to leave yet, so he was pushed hard by Zhufeng a few times, and then he left with a lot of curses.
The dog in front of the yard was barking wildly. Zhufeng took out a piece of dried meat from his purse and threw it to the dog. The dog barked twice more, smelled the aroma of the meat, and quickly turned to pick up the dried meat.
The granddaughter was so angry that her chest was heaving, "My grandpa won't sell it until he sells it. He also curses people and has poisonous sores on his mouth."
Zhufeng smiled and cupped his hands: "You two, don't be angry, I will make amends for you on his behalf."
Old Man Xu was silent for a while, then he opened his eyes slightly and looked sideways at Zhufeng, "You have some free time again? When you have free time, go and chop the firewood in the yard."