Chapter 128 Harvesting Potatoes and Digging the Cellar
Chapter 128 Harvesting Potatoes and Digging a Cellar
Author: Han Ming
Chapter 128 Harvesting Potatoes and Digging a Cellar
Every time when it came to marrying Zhang An, Wang Fang and Zhang Jianguo both hinted to Zhang An overtly and covertly.
But no matter what, Zhang An just didn't answer the conversation.
In the end, the two of them saw that Zhang An didn't answer the conversation, and they themselves were bored, so they stopped talking.
Anyway, Wang Fang has made up his mind. No matter what he says in the past two years, Zhang An has an excuse.
When she reaches the age of two years, this matter will not be discussed with her.
By then it will no longer be like this and we will discuss things calmly.
"Is this the old kite you caught before?"
Only now did Zhang Jianguo look at the flower head on Zhang An's shoulder.
When Zhang An entered the yard just now, none of the chickens, ducks, geese, and rabbits at home dared to move. They squatted on the ground and shivered.
I just waited for a long time, probably because I saw that the flower heads did not attack them, so they slowed down.
But they have now gone to the cherry forest, far away from the flower heads.
"You kid, the old kite's claws are so sharp, why don't you put something on your shoulders to scratch a few holes for me?"
Wang Fang didn't care about Hua Tou, but she was a little worried when she saw Zhang An holding Hua Tou on his shoulder.
"Mom, it's okay. It can control its strength and won't scratch me."
If Huatou could understand, he would definitely despise Zhang An.
No matter how hard you dare to grab, you have already been beaten several times, and you can't continue to be beaten.
"Dad, that's it. I named it Huatou. Look at its head, it looks like it has a flowery head and a beautiful brain."
Zhang Jianguo and his wife had already seen Zhang An's naming Tianfu.
Anyway, these animals at home don't matter. If you have a child in the future, you must not cause trouble to him.
"Why does the flower head look bigger than other old kites?"
Zhang Jianguo is no stranger to the old kite. When he saw the flower head, he could tell at a glance that the flower head was much larger than the ordinary old kite.
"Dad, the flower head is indeed bigger than other old kites."
At Zhang An's signal, Huatou had already stood on Zhang Jianguo's shoulders.
"Hey, it's so heavy, how can it still be close to me?"
Zhang Jianguo was shocked that Huatou could get close to him. This eagle usually doesn't get close to others.
Zhang An just wanted to give it a try, because his father just stretched out his hand to touch it, and it didn't resist.
But I didn't expect Huatou to really not resist his father.
"Maybe it knows that we are a family."
Zhang An thought for a while, and there was only one possibility, which was the space spring water that his parents often used for eating and drinking.
They already have the aura of space in their bodies, so Huatou will get close to them.
Sure enough, Zhang An tried again, and Huatou was also very close to his mother.
But when the Peanut was a baby, why didn't he let his parents get close to him?
In the end, Zhang An could only blame it on the fact that his parents' spatial aura was not strong enough at that time.
Since the flower head is too heavy, it is not a problem to keep squatting on Zhang An's shoulders.
Zhang An clapped his hands and let it fly to the sweet-scented osmanthus tree and squat down, and then he followed suit and made corn syrup.
There are still big bags of young buds on the ground. If they were all pulped, it would probably take two barrels to filter out.
With so much corn pulp being made into corn glutinous rice cake, Zhang An felt that his family would have to eat it for a long time.
"Mom, our family is so busy, I'm afraid it will last until the Chinese New Year."
"This is how much we have. When the time comes, we will distribute it to your second uncle and third uncle's families. Neither of them have done anything this year. Then let Xiao Li come and get some and there won't be much left."
Zhang An thought that both of his uncles' families had cooked it. After all, after breaking off the corn, each family would have some tender ones left.
No wonder my mother has to do so much, and this is not a lot.
Finally, after spending two or three hours, the pair of corns were beaten into pulp.
There is no machine now, so we have to use a kitchen knife to do it, which is too laborious.
Finally, Wang Fang took out a large piece of gauze and filtered it. After filtering, the corn residue was rinsed with water to avoid wasting any starch.
There will be nothing to do with Zhang An later. He can get up and walk around. Sitting for several hours is really too much.
"I'm digging potatoes today, uncle."
Zhang An, who had just gone out and was going to stroll around the village.
I saw Uncle Wang coming back from the front yard carrying two baskets of freshly dug potatoes.
"While there's nothing going on these days, I'll dig it up first. Have you dug it up yet?"
Uncle Wang, who is in his fifties, is already an old carrying pole.
These two large baskets of potatoes probably weighed about a hundred kilograms, but judging from the way he picked them up, it was still easy.
"Our family hasn't dug yet. We will dig in the next few days. The potatoes are growing so big this year."
Zhang An looked at the potatoes in Uncle Wang's basket. They were all very big.
"The past two years have been good. Everything you plant on the ground is good. This thing has been around for a year. Xiao An, your family hasn't dug it yet. Come and get some later so you can eat it."
"No, no, second uncle, we still have some at home. Mine will be dug soon too."
In the end, Zhang An talked a few more words with the old man and did not keep chatting with others.
After all, it is very strenuous for others to carry the burden.
After walking around the village, Zhang An saw many people coming back from the mountains to dig potatoes.
It can be seen during this time that everyone’s faces are filled with joy of harvest.
I just finished harvesting the corns and millet not long ago. During this period, I also harvested sweet potatoes and potatoes.
It can be seen from their faces that this year is another good harvest year.
In the past two years, people have come to harvest the potatoes grown in the mountains. They cost about 30 cents per pound, and larger ones can be sold for more.
This is better than in the past years. In the past, no one came to harvest, and whatever was grown at home was used to feed the pigs.
If you can sell it now, it can be regarded as a source of income for the family.
"Dad, I see everyone in the village is digging potatoes, why don't we dig them too?"
After Zhang An came back, he told his parents about digging potatoes.
"That's alright, let's go tomorrow. I still have sweet potatoes at home."
Zhang An's family has also planted half an acre of potatoes and sweet potatoes this year, and it is estimated that they can dig out a lot of them.
Early the next morning, the family of three got up, packed their things, and headed up the mountain with the big black horse.
Zhang An's potatoes are planted a little farther away from the sweet potatoes, mainly because of soil quality issues.
Potatoes and sweet potatoes grow better in sandy soil, and the nearby mountains are not sandy soil.
When he arrived at the field, Zhang Jianguo first cut the potato vines and sweet potato vines.
In previous years, these would have been taken back to feed the livestock, but now we don't need them at home.
So I cut it and put it aside, waiting to finish digging the potatoes and cover them with some mud.
When they rot, they can be used to fertilize the land.
Zhang An started digging potatoes with a hoe. He said he was digging, but in fact it was more like planing.
When digging this thing, you need to be strong. If you don't pay attention, it will not work if you dig directly into the potato.
"The potatoes are quite big this year. Each one is as big as a big bowl."
Wang Fang saw the potatoes dug out of her own land. Each one was as big as a bowl.
Everyone was extremely happy. When Zhang An saw this, he couldn't bear to interrupt his mother.
After all, other families in the village dug pretty big potatoes this year.
In her eyes, it's all money, and she won't be able to eat much at home.
When planting potatoes, Zhang Jianguo carried a lot of grass manure to plant them.
It took the family a whole day to dig more than half an acre of potatoes and sweet potatoes.
The potatoes and sweet potatoes at home have piled up into hills. In the past, they could only be used to feed pigs every day.
Originally, Zhang An's family planned to sell most of it and keep some enough for their own food.
But contrary to expectations, the potatoes grown this year are worthless.
The second uncle who went to call people to collect potatoes a few days ago said that last year he could sell potatoes for more than 30 cents, or even 40 cents per pound.
This year when people came to collect it, they only gave me a price of just over 20 cents per catty.
So now everyone is unwilling to do so. If they sell it, the price will be too low to make it worthwhile.
If you don’t sell them, you won’t be able to eat them all at home, and they will get spoiled easily if they are piled up, and it’s not cost-effective to feed pigs.
People in the mountains around Hongyan Town do not have the habit of digging cellars.
Generally, the sweet potatoes and potatoes dug up at home are piled directly in a room.
So although potatoes are durable, many of them go bad in the end.
But if you put the spoiled potatoes, the taste will be very strong, just like runny potatoes.
Zhang An somewhat understands the price of potatoes this year.
Not to mention other places, just in Changqing Village, anyone with a discerning eye can see it during the time when everyone is digging potatoes.
This year's potatoes are a good harvest. They are plentiful and big. They are much better than last year.
If there is excess production capacity, prices will definitely come down.
But just because Zhang An understands it doesn't mean he is willing to sell it at a low price.
So now he wants to see what kind of method can save it easily.
In fact, it is a good choice to put it in the space, and it will not break down for a long time.
But Zhang Anke couldn't explain why such potatoes disappeared all of a sudden.
Finally, Zhang An thought about it, discussed it with his parents, and decided not to sell it.
I plan to dig a cellar in the backyard by the river to store potatoes and sweet potatoes.
It's more than two cents per catty, so I might as well keep it for baking powder.
Although no one in Zhang An's family knows how to dig a cellar, there are people in the village who do.
Wang Xinghua, who sells roasted wine in the village, has a wine cellar at his home, which his old man Wang Qiyan dug himself.
So after dinner in the evening, Zhang An carried some things and went to Wang Xinhua's house.
"Uncle Xinghua, my uncle is not at home."
Everyone is from Shangzhai, so they are relatively familiar with it.
Wang Xinghua's family has the same surname as Wang Fang. Regardless of whether they are directly related or not, Zhang An still has to call him uncle.
"Zhang An is here, come and sit down, my dad is at home."
Wang Xinghua saw Zhang An coming and invited Zhang An to sit at home.
"You're here when you come. Why did you bring something here? You're such a kid."
Seeing that Zhang An had brought something, Wang Xinhua's mother said a few polite words.
In fact, the relationship between the two families is not very close, and it is just a normal neighborly relationship.
If Zhang An wants to find someone to work for, he must do this with proper courtesy.
After a few people chatted about household matters and gossip, Zhang An got down to business.
"Uncle, I heard from my dad that you are always good at digging cellars."
"It's no big deal to dig a cellar. Do you want to dig one?"
"I want to dig one at home, so why don't I ask for your help? The price of potatoes this year is too low, and I feel reluctant to sell them, so I thought I wouldn't sell them at all and dig a cellar to store them."
"It's the same thing. When the year is bad, everyone can't afford to eat. When the year is good, the food can't be sold at a high price. It's us who grow crops who suffer."
When the old man heard Zhang An asked him to help dig the cellar, he readily agreed.
Neighbors should help each other, and there is no guarantee that one day you will need help from others.
Besides, after this was installed on the door and all these things were brought, it would be unreasonable not to help.
The next day Wang Fang got up and made breakfast. After inviting Mr. Wang Qiyan over for breakfast, he was ready to start work.
It is said to be a cellar, but in fact it was not dug underground at all.
Zhang An planned to dig in the backyard, so he could just dig directly into the mountain in the backyard.
The backyard of Zhang An's house is at the foot of the loess slope. It is all loess, so there is no need to worry about it collapsing due to excavation.
I called Mr. Wang Qiyan over, mainly because I wanted him to give me some guidance so that I wouldn't have problems everywhere by then.
After choosing the place, Zhang An started digging with a pickaxe.
We dug straight from the ridge of the backyard to the inside. It took a long time to dig out a hole that was more than one meter high and two meters deep.
"No wonder people in the village say Anzi is very strong. I finally saw it today."
Seeing Zhang An digging so deep in one go, his face was not red and he was not out of breath.
Mr. Wang Qiyan lamented that when his generation was young, there were many strong people, but he had never seen anyone like Zhang An.
The entrance to the cave has been dug, and now we need to start digging the cellar.
Zhang An dug this hole diagonally upward.
The advantage of digging like this is that if water accumulates outside in the future, the water will not flow into the cellar.
Even if Zhang An dug a drainage ditch in his backyard, Zhang An would not spare this effort.
After Zhang An dug enough to accommodate a few more people, Zhang Jianguo and the others began to dig in with hoes.
The passage can be dug a little lower, but the cellar needs to be dug a little bigger.
There are so many things to store at home, and they can’t be accommodated without digging them up.
And there’s no guarantee what else will be put in it in the future.
It took two days of digging to complete the cellar of Zhang An's house, and Zhang An even worked overtime at night.
The main reason is that the deeper you dig, the more solid the soil becomes, making it harder to dig out.
But just digging out the cellar space is not enough for one family to dig it out.
Finally, Mr. Wang lit a fire inside and roasted it for a long time before it was finished.
After it has been left for a few days, you can put your potatoes and sweet potatoes in it.
There were too many animals in his house, so Zhang An specially made a cellar door and installed it to prevent them from running inside.
After a few days of storage, Zhang An began to move the potatoes and sweet potatoes piled inside the house.
At this time, people who came down to collect potatoes from the town also came to the village to shout.
Many families in the village finally sold their potatoes.
Although the price is a bit cheaper, money is only yours if you hold it in your own hands.
But there were still a few people who didn't want to sell. When they saw Zhang An's family digging a cellar, they all followed suit.
Therefore, in the past two days, Mr. Wang Qiyan basically did not go home.
Either this family invites you or that family invites you.
But it must have started the cellar era in Changqing Village.