Many people know about Zhou Yang's family selling food.
At first, everyone thought that Zhou Yang came home because he thought of a way to make money, but they didn't expect that it was Zhang An who gave him the idea.
"There are quite a lot of people buying food these two days. My dad and I have to go twice a day to pick out enough food to sell."
Zhou Yang told Zhang An while loading the dug loess onto the carriage.
Talking about this, Zhou Yang was very excited. They sell rice for five yuan a piece, three dishes at a time, a big bowl of rice. Five yuan seems like a lot, but what Zhang An said is so right. For these people
Five dollars is nothing.
At the beginning, when only a dozen people bought food, Zhou Yang's family was already very satisfied.
Now more than 20 people come to buy it every day, and they can sell it for more than 100 yuan a day, which was something they could not even imagine before.
Even after excluding costs, you can earn seventy or eighty yuan a day.
Zhou Yang's father, Zhou Shuanglin, is thinking all day now that his family can earn more than 2,000 yuan a month, and he is extremely happy.
"Anyway, you should pay attention to the number of people. In the past two days, everyone is relatively free and there will be more people coming. When the farming is busy in the next few days, there will be fewer people coming. At that time, you have to cook less dishes, otherwise you won't be able to sell them.
"
Zhang An thought for a while and decided to remind him, fearing that by then Zhou Yang would get used to making it every day and prepare it in that amount every day, and it would be wasted if he couldn't sell it.
People who come to Changqing to fish are not only fishing enthusiasts, but also people who have nothing to do at home and come here to fish.
And now the fish collectors in the town, when they see the fish in the Changqing River, don’t even cut the price, they just collect it.
If they are lucky, they can catch a lot of money.
"Okay, I'll pay attention."
It has to be said that young people work quickly, and within a short time both carriages were loaded with more than half a load of loess.
"Zhang An, please give us an idea sometime and let us find something to do."
Zhang Ping told Zhang An while digging the soil. When everyone heard what Zhang Ping said, they all looked over.
Who doesn’t want to find something to do at home and who doesn’t want to make money?
Seeing that Zhou Yang's family's food-selling business is doing so well, everyone would be lying if they said they weren't envious.
Many people in the village saw Zhou Yang's house selling rice and wanted to cook it and sell it there.
But after they were sold once, people stopped buying them.
The main reason is that the food they cook is not as delicious as Zhou Yang's. People will stop eating after eating it once, even if it is sold cheaply.
After all, Zhou Yang had learned how to cook seriously, so he must have spent money to buy delicious food.
In the end, after those people did it a few times, they found that they couldn't sell it and stopped selling it.
"I don't have any ideas now. The millet and buds are about to be harvested. When the crops are harvested, I will take a look. I will call you when the time comes."
Not long after, the two carriages were filled with loess. Zhang Ping and Zhang Jianguo drove the carriage back to unload the soil. The remaining people stayed here to dig up the mud on the ground to facilitate loading later.
At this time, Zhang An saw someone pulling a cart of watermelons on the road. Zhang An called out to this person from a distance.
"Uncle, how do you sell this melon?"
Hearing someone ask, the middle-aged man pulling the watermelon stopped the carriage.
"One dollar per catty, my dear, this is a big green-skinned watermelon from the local melon. It's very sweet. Do you want it?"
Zhang An actually walked to the roadside and took a look. The watermelons were not too big, maybe five or six pounds each.
But looking at the size, it’s a real local sweet potato. If it’s bigger, it must be a foreign sweet potato.
The local melons don't grow very big, only about this size, but they have thin skin and a lot of flesh, and are very delicious. However, the yield cannot increase. So they were eventually replaced by new varieties.
"Is this melon of yours still ripe? Don't wait until I buy it. If it's not sweet when you cut it open, I won't be able to find you."
Zhang An imitated the way adults looked at melons and knocked on several melons to listen to the sounds inside.
"My dear, the red envelopes are sweet. Whichever one you like, you can open it on the spot. If it's not red or sweet, you won't be charged."
The man selling melons obviously knew this very well and told Zhang An normally.
"Okay, I'll pick a big one, but you have to open it for me, uncle. We'll eat here without bringing a knife."
Finally, Zhang An picked a melon seller who looked good to him and weighed him, weighing six pounds and three taels.
"Six pounds and three ounces, let's count it as six pounds for you, see if that works."
"Okay, that's it."
Zhang An glanced at the scale and had an idea in his mind, so he took out the money from his pocket to pay the bill.
After the melon seller got his change, he picked up the kitchen knife and started to open the melons for Zhang An.
Not to mention, this melon looks good, the skin is not very thick and the flesh is quite red.
"Uncle, this melon is okay."
"That's right, we locals don't lie to locals."
When the old uncle heard Zhang An praise his own melons, he also rarely laughed with Zhang An.
"Does that mean you have to lie to strangers when you meet them?"
Zhang An smiled and joked with the old uncle.
"In our place, where are the outsiders? Let's cut it."
This melon will be enough for everyone to eat when Zhang Ping and his father come back. Zhang An saw that the melon bloomed so well, so he bought another one and took it home at night.
"Huang Ming, Zhou Yang, you guys come here and get the watermelon."
Hearing Zhang An's shouting, the man who was digging put down his hoe and came over to take two ya. Just in time, Zhang Ping and Zhang Jianguo, who were pulling the cart back, came back.
When the old man selling melons saw Dahei from Zhang An's family approaching, he became a little trembling and frightened.
"Hey, this horse is a good horse." Seeing the performance of his own horse, the melon seller had to take a closer look at this big black horse.
"Hahaha, our big black horse is afraid of all the other draft horses in the village."
After paying the money and taking the melon, Zhang An walked back carrying a big watermelon.
Nowadays, this watermelon is rarely eaten by everyone. The main reason is that it is expensive and contains a packet of water. Most people are not willing to buy it because they think it is a waste of money.
Zhang An also hadn’t eaten watermelon for a long time, so he wanted to buy one for everyone to enjoy.
In one morning, I had already made five or six trips back.
"When the car is full, we will go back to eat. The meal has been prepared at home."
When they heard that it was time to have lunch, everyone realized that it was already noon. Although everyone had shared the watermelon just now, their stomachs were still full after eating.
When the carriage was full, the people in front took the carriage away, and Zhang An walked back with the remaining people.
Zhou Yang had already gone back early when ten o'clock came.
Because he has to go back and be busy cooking, there is no need to go back early in the afternoon.
When we arrived at the entrance of the village, we happened to meet Zhou Yang's family who were carrying food to the river.
"Zhou Yang, after you finish your meal later, remember to come back for dinner."
"Don't wait for me. I don't know how long the fight will last. I'll go at night."
Although there were only a few dozen people, it still took some time to collect money and prepare food at the same time, and they had to wait for everyone to finish eating and collect their bowls, so Zhou Yang asked Zhang An not to wait for him.
Zhang An was not polite when he heard this. Zhou Yang was a food seller anyway, so he would not miss out on his two mouthfuls of food.
After lunch, Zhang An took a look at the many carts of loess that had been brought back in the morning to see how much was still missing.
Zhang An planned to spread a thick layer of loess, and he didn't fit much into a carriage, so he couldn't actually spread it to a large area.
It looks like more than ten or twenty trucks will be needed to cover the entire vegetable field.
By the time everyone worked until five or six in the afternoon, the mounds of soil that had formed a hill under the highway had now bottomed out.
If the owner of this land knew that he had helped him remove the loess from the field, he would definitely come to thank him.
When the last car was pulled, Zhang An heard his father say that it was enough, and after pulling this car, there was no need to pull any more.
So everyone quickly finished loading the car and went home to wash it after get off work.
When Zhang An returned home, he caught a rabbit from the rabbit cage and asked his father to kill it and make spicy rabbit meat that night.
After Zhang An changed his clothes and washed his face, he packed a liter of corn and carried it to Zhang Ping's house.
Today, not only Zhang Ping came to my uncle’s house to help, but also his family’s carriage came to help all day long.
People must be invited to eat, but the horse must also be given some rations.
When we arrived at the old uncle's house, Zhang Ping happened to have already finished washing, so Zhang An handed him the corn he had brought.
Zhang Ping was not polite. This was an unwritten custom in the village, so there was no need to refuse.
Then let Zhang Ping go to his own house first, while Zhang An went to other people's houses to invite people for dinner.
In the evening, I naturally gave everyone a good meal and a good drink, especially Huang Ming. This guy had a poor drinking ability, but he was provoked by several other people and drank a small drink at a time, which made his face turn upside down on the spot.
Zhang An saw that they were not playing too much and did not dissuade them. If they really started fighting over wine, Zhang An would definitely dissuade them.
After everyone had been cleaned and fed, everyone went home.
Zhang An is also about to start working. Today’s Polygonatum japonica has been in the sun for a whole day, and it’s ready for the second steaming.
The first few times Huang Jing was steamed, it took four to five hours, so Zhang An sat in the yard and watched the steaming, adding firewood and water from time to time.
Keep steaming until late at night, and then the steamer and Huangjing are thoroughly steamed.
The Huang Jing that has been steamed for the second time already looks a little wrinkled, a little less wrinkled than the first time.
Zhang An picked them out and put them in a dustpan, and covered them with gauze, because the newly steamed Polygonatum japonica needed to be allowed to air out so that it could be dried the next day.
The drying process continues the next day, and this is the second step of the process of nine steaming and nine drying.
Zhang An didn't quite understand why it was necessary to steam and dry the food nine times, but Grandpa Er said that nine is the ultimate number, and nine times equals one. Anyway, nine times is the best.
This is what the ancient law records, so I learned to do it.
"Zhang Tie, what did you get?"
As soon as the Huang Jing shop was finished drying, I saw Zhang Tie running past the door with a cage of things in his hands, in a hurry.
"Brother, this is the stone pound I caught this morning. Look how big it is."
Zhang An took the fish basket handed over by Zhang Tie and opened it. There were four or five large stone pounds in it. It was very heavy, perhaps weighing more than three kilograms.
"Why are you catching this thing? You're not afraid of catching a leprous baby."
The Shilbang is a kind of frog, much bigger than a frog. It looks very similar to the Leptoba, but it doesn't have as many leprosy bags on its back.
"When the baby sees me, he will run away. I am going to catch him to compete. I am so big, I must be the one who can jump the farthest."
Fighting frogs, crickets, and mantises are one of the favorite entertainment methods of children in the village, and some even fight mice.
However, this stone-pound frog tastes very good, even better than frogs. Zhang An has not eaten it for a long time.
In the past, when Zhang An was a child, Mr. Zhang was still there. Every time he came back from the fields, if he caught a frog, a big stone pound would be brought back and steamed for Zhang An to eat.
At that time, Zhang An was the only grandson in the family, and Mr. Zhang and his wife loved him very much.
It's the size of a stone pound. After slaughtering it, peel it off and steam it with some lard seasoning. It's very fragrant and delicious.
"Zhang Tie, I have something good here. I will exchange it for you."
"What a good thing. Brother, if you want it, just take it. I will go up the mountain to catch it."
As soon as Zhang Tie heard that his elder brother wanted this thing, he simply gave it to Zhang An. Anyway, he could find some by searching for it in the mountains.
Now this thing has not entered the hot pot restaurants in the city, and has not been completely wiped out by everyone. There are quite a few streams in the mountains, and sometimes it can be very troublesome to shout together.
"Just wait for me."
Zhang An remembered that the August melons he had picked before were still in the space and had not been taken out.
After asking Zhang Tie to wait for a while, he entered the room with the fish basket.
Taking advantage of the situation, I put the stone pound into the space and picked up a dozen August melons and took them out.
"Here, do you want this? If not, I won't give it to you."
Zhang Tie's eyes were filled with greed when he saw the August melon in Zhang An's hand.
"Brother, when did you pick wild bananas? Why are they so big?"
Before Zhang An could take it out, Zhang Tie hurriedly took one from Zhang An's hand.
I peeled off the skin on the spot and ate it.
"This is bigger than what we found on Qingshang, and it's also delicious."
Qingshang is the hill that many houses in Changqing village back up, a hillside with many exposed rocks.
However, although there are many rocks, there are still many trees growing on them.
Children of Zhang Tie's age always like to climb up and play, and are often beaten when adults find them.
Because the family members were afraid that they would climb up and fall down, which would be too dangerous.
"Here, I've given these to you. Just think of it as me exchanging stone pounds with you. You can take the rest back to Xiao Yanzi and your second and third brothers."
Then Zhang An thought for a while and said, "Forget it, I'll take it myself, otherwise you'll finish eating it alone and won't leave it for them."
Zhang Tie is very greedy. He obviously left a criminal record with Zhang An. He casually wanted him to take it with him, but after thinking about it, he might as well take it himself.
"No, brother, I just took it over. I promise to take a few of them over and not eat any of them."
Seeing Zhang An not trusting Zhang Tie, it's okay. His eldest brother doesn't trust him anymore, and he won't be able to get along with this group of friends in the future.
I immediately patted my chest and promised not to eat any of them, leaving them all for my brother and sister.
Seeing Zhang Tiedu like this, he said, "Okay, then I'll give you a chance. If you lie to me, I won't believe you next time."
Hearing Zhang An's words, Zhang Tie took off his short-sleeved shirt, carried the August melon given by Zhang An, and ran home in a skipping motion. There was no one who had just thought about going to the sunbathing field to fight frogs.
What a look.
Zhang An shook his head and looked at Zhang Tie. Although he is already twelve or thirteen years old and will go to junior high school next year, he is still so out of touch now.
But I also thought that after the stone pounds breed more in the space, I can catch them and cook them for hot pot. This thing is much more delicious than bullfrogs, and it is also nutritious.