The people of the old Feng family collected salt in the morning, and cooked salt at home in the afternoon. They set up a large iron pot in the yard, poured the collected coarse salt into it, and filled it with well water. Add firewood underneath and let it cook. Old Man Feng stood by the side with a large spoon and kept stirring. Gradually the coarse salt melted into the water, and the brine became thicker and thicker.
Mengmeng was sitting on the edge of the corridor, watching her grandparents boil salt. The boiled salt water had the smell of the sea, and was blown by the small wind on Mengmeng's face. She narrowed her eyes and took a few breaths. I like it very much.
Old man Feng stared at the pot of salt water closely, waiting for the impurities in it to float up, usually grass roots, leaves, and relatively light things, just take them out.
But he waited left and right today, and there was nothing dirty in the salt water floating up, which saved him a lot of trouble.
"Okay Fenger, don't add firewood, let's quickly bring this pot over." Old man Feng greeted his old wife, and the two of them worked together to lift the pot of salt water to the wooden barrel next to it, the mouth of the wooden barrel was covered. A thick linen cloth, once the salt water is poured down, the sand and clods in it are also filtered out.
They poured out a pot of salt water, and they didn't see much impurities on the sackcloth. They looked at each other and saw joy in each other's eyes. This must be Grandpa Mountain God taking care of their home again.
Since there were no impurities, the pot of brine was poured back and continued to cook. Halfway through the cooking process, Old Man Feng also sprinkled a handful of mother and son slag, or old salt, into the pot, so that the salt in the pot could crystallize quickly.
Mrs. Feng controlled the heat from the bottom. When it was almost cooked, she picked up a dustpan and threw it down to salvage. When it was fished up again, there was a load of salt in it, all fine and white salt, white and ground. Like snowflakes.
Madam Feng picked up a handful of salt, licked it with the tip of her tongue, and nodded with satisfaction: "Good salt, if you sell this salt, it will definitely sell for a good price."
The people who live by the sea go out to sell salt several times a year. The grades of the salt are different, so the price is naturally different. It's just that the production team used to sell the salt and the money went to the production team. Now they sell the salt and the money goes back. myself.
Mrs. Feng hung the dustpan to dry, and walked back with some heartbeat: "Old man, do we want to pack a few more acres of salt fields? This year, I will sell a little more salt. I think this salt can be sold on a high-quality basis."
"How can salt be as valuable as sugar?" Old Man Feng also dropped a dustpan and said while scooping it up, "I went to the field to see it a few days ago, and our family's sugarcane has grown well this year, with a sugarcane tail. There will be three or four big ones on the top, and three or four smaller ones on the bottom. If I want to say, we also want to pack sugarcane fields."
Madam Feng took the dustpan and hung it up again. Thinking about it, she thought it made sense. She turned around and said, "Okay, I'll listen to you. We'll wrap up the land to grow sugar cane."
The old man Feng continued to stir the pot of salt water, thinking in his mouth: "Yimin is on a business trip now, and there are only two cadres left in the village, Guoqiang and Lihua. I will go to them tomorrow to stamp their seals and take advantage of the spring. sugar cane."
Madam Feng also thinks this is a good idea. Spring is the season for sowing. After this season, I don't know when to wait. Spring plowing doesn't wait for anyone, so we must hurry up and wrap up the arable land. One sentence: "Lihua is my mother's niece. She is the director of women's affairs. You helped her to become her. If you talk to her, she will definitely help."
Old Man Feng didn't take it to heart at all, and said with a smug smile, "You forgot that there are two village chiefs in our family. I know some people too, you don't have to worry about it."
The next day, old man Feng went to the brigade with the money in his arms. When he came back, he had a few more pieces of paper in his arms. He took out these papers and photographed them in the hands of old lady Feng and said, "Here, 20 acres of arable land and 15 acres of wasteland."
Madam Feng was so shocked that she almost didn't catch the paper, she quickly unfolded it and looked at it and said, "Old man, why did you pack so much land? How much does it cost?"
The old man Feng waved his hand and smiled mysteriously and said, "The wasteland doesn't need money. As long as we are willing to open up the wasteland, it will be ours. The annual contract fee for one mu of arable land is 10 yuan, and I have paid for it for 50 years. first pay the fee for one year, fortunately we made more than 200 yuan selling dried meat last time, this is the receipt, you hide it."
"Where can we grow it in our family? Old man?" Madam Feng felt aching and worried, and she put her hand on the forehead of her old man, wanting to see if he had a fever, so she wrapped it in one breath. So much? How many people are there in their family? This is to tire them out.
Old Man Feng handed over the certificate, and his heart was relieved. He rubbed his hands and said very sly: "Grow slowly, as many as you can. I tell you, old lady, this mountain road is about to be completed, and the people in the village How easy is it to ship things out? They can ship as much as they can produce in this field. It's all money! I guess someone will react soon. We have to start quickly. If it weren't for the lack of money at home, I would still like to pack a few more acres of land."
"Yes, the old man, you still have a vision. You really deserve to be the village chief." Madam Feng listened and listened, but she felt that she had never been so satisfied. Her old man usually watched silently. Now that they are already old, a major thing has been accomplished.
"That's it." Old Man Feng raised his head high, pointed his thumb to his chest, and said, "We are now focused on making money, I want to make a lot of money, and I will leave it to Mengmeng in the future. I plan to wait for Xiaotong. After we finish building the mountain road, I will go to the provincial capital to see what goods we can sell. Then we will plant them and ship them out to sell."
The two old Fengs have a common goal, and their spirits are like a decade younger. In order to catch the crops in the spring, the old man Feng goes to the ground every day at dawn to compost the soil, and the old lady Feng keeps the sugar cane at home. The tail was soaked in water, and several buds were sprung up, waiting to be transported to the ground for sowing.
The weather was good that day, and the two of them worked several times before they moved all the sugar cane tails at home to the fields. This field is the farmland that their family just contracted, and it is located at the back of the village. The two of them can't grow that much, so they first cleaned up four acres of land and planned to plant sugar cane.
The two of them were very motivated. Old Man Feng picked up his tool and dug a hole in front of him. Old Madam Feng followed behind to plant sugar cane. She placed a sugar cane tail with a sprout on the bottom of the pit, and then pushed the soil back. Looking at this bare field, she had already thought of how it looked like it was covered with sugar cane, and a chrysanthemum pattern appeared on her face.
The adults in the family came out to work, and of course Mengmeng followed. Erwa and Brother Rui pushed her to the back of the village, where a dense forest grew, among which were a few wild green plum trees. You will find this everywhere in Taoyuan Village, and no one cares about it at all. Only greedy little dolls occasionally pick it up and eat it. The green plums on the tree are already ripe and red.
Mengmeng walks very steadily now, she dragged Huzi's tail and came to the bottom of a green plum tree, looking up at the plums above, she was greedy first, pointed at the plum and said: " want to eat."
Erwa and Brother Rui followed, and found that Mengmeng was staring at the plum and the saliva was about to drool. As soon as they discussed it, they said, "Mengmeng, wait by the side, brother will pick it up for you."
This plum tree is not high, and there are many branches growing under it. Erwa and Rui Geer rushed up two or three times, and swayed vigorously on the branch. The ripe plums were like rain. It fell down in a rustling way.
Mengmeng was so happy when she saw it, she clapped her little hands and walked over to pick it up, but she didn't put it in her mouth. She loved cleanliness since she was a child, and knew that she could eat this thing after washing it, otherwise there would be bugs in her stomach. What Mrs. Feng told her, she always remembered.
When Xiaojin got here, he slipped off Huzi's tail. It watched Mengmeng pick up a green plum and put it under its nose to smell it. It also curiously leaned over to the green plum on the ground and smelled it hard, and used it when it was over. The sharp eagle beak pecked up, trying to see if it could be eaten.
It used too much force, and the ripe green plum was strung into its mouth at once, and it stuck there and couldn't get down.
Xiao Jin was taken aback by this green plum, so he quickly observed with crossed eyes for a while, then lowered his head and scratched with his two small claws. As a result, the plum didn't come down, and the ripe plum meat stuck to its nose. Now it was so uncomfortable that it quaked, and the sound was not like a chicken's crowing but a duck's.
It has been busy for a long time without getting the plum, and it is so anxious as if its buttocks are on fire, flapping its wings and running around on the ground. Brown feathers, bald in some places before they grow back in time, it looks much uglier than before, and the little dolls in the family don't want to touch it anymore. I feel that I am so beautiful that no one touches it.
Hu Zi looked at it's stupid appearance, and was anxious for it in his heart. He walked over and slapped the green plum with one paw, and by the way, he also fanned Xiao Jin to the ground. How big is Huzi, and his strength is so great that Xiaojin can't get up from lying on the ground for a long time. The squealing was particularly unpleasant.
A few dolls didn't know what was going on at first, and they felt very happy to see Xiaojin jumping and screaming. Brother Rui smiled and suddenly felt that something was not right, so he lifted Xiaojin's two paws and poured it down. When he hung it up, he saw that its mouth and eyes were covered with plum flesh. It was so uncomfortable. Brother Rui quickly took it to the small ditch next to it and threw it in to wash it.
Xiaojin rinsed in the ditch a few times, and when he came out, he turned into a chicken. It is not uncomfortable now, but when he heard the dolls laughing at him, he immediately became angry and threw his feathers to the ground. Like a rotten mop.
Hu Zi's humanized eyes flashed a hint of jest, and he finally picked it up and sent it home, but Xiao Jin was so arrogant that he didn't want to talk to anyone all afternoon, and squatted beside the chicken coop, sulking by himself.
Brother Rui and Erwa shook off all the plums on the whole tree. Looking at so many plums, they didn't know what to do. It was Mrs. Feng who just picked up a basket and packed it up. A bag full.
There are so many green plums that I can't eat them all in a while, and they will definitely go bad if they are left there. Madam Feng was not willing to waste it, so she walked to the well and waved to the little dolls: "Come and help me wash the plums, I'll make plum juice for you later."
Erwa and Brother Rui obediently walked over to wash the plums, while Mengmeng sat on the small bench next to her and looked very attentively, secretly swallowing her saliva.
Madam Feng washed the plums, picked out the big ones and pounded the plums, put some sugar, and then put some boiled water into it, and it turned into a cup of plum juice.
Brother Rui put his toes on his toes and found that Mrs. Feng had already prepared the plum juice, and immediately said, "Grandma Feng, I'll give it to my sister."
Madam Feng originally thought that he was greedy for being here, but she didn't expect that Brother Rui was guarding Mengmeng, so she couldn't help but patted his head and said, "Brother Rui is really good, then first To Mengmeng, yours will be ready soon."
"Come here, brother will feed you a drink." Brother Rui took out the cup of green plum juice, carefully brought it to Mengmeng's mouth and fed her a sip, squatted there and said expectantly, "How is it? Is it sweet?"
"Ha..." Mengmeng frowned with two small eyebrows and opened her small mouth, gasping. This plum juice was sour and sweet, so delicious, she lowered her head and took another sip, it was so delicious.
Madam Feng brought out the other two cups of plum juice and stuffed them into Brother Rui and Erwa and said, "This is for digestion, you can't drink too much. The rest of the grandma will pickle the rest for you to make candied plums."