Back in the city, Liu Yuyan's cousin Liu Xiaomei had already arrived. Liu Xiaomei saw that Han Songlin had returned and took the initiative to say hello; Han Songlin smiled and returned the greeting, and then asked, 'Where are your things?'
I don't see any luggage?
Liu Yuyan picked up the conversation and said, 'They've already been moved to that house over there!'
'I see. That's fine. Xiaomei, if there's anything you need to buy, you go ahead and buy it!' Han Songlin told Liu Yuyan, explaining that it would be inconvenient for him to go out and buy things for the girl.
He would rather let Liu Yuyan do it.
Liu Yuyan: 'You don't need to tell me. Earlier, I went and bought Xiaomei toothpaste and toothbrushes, towels, washbasins, soap, and all that stuff.'
Han Songlin saw that Fan Xiulian was not there, and neither was Liu Yang.
'Where's Liu Yang?'
Liu Yuyan: 'It's quite noisy here, I told them to go to the rented house to study!'
Han Songlin had a thought pop into his head. Could it be that Liu Yang wouldn't do anything to Fan Xiulian?
He shook his head and dismissed the thought. It was unlikely.
'When will the millet be ready?' Liu Yuyan was still very concerned about her hard work over the summer.
Giving away the millet? No way.
That's not how you play.
'It will be ready to harvest in a couple of days. Do you want to go back and do it?'
Liu Yuyan didn't hesitate: 'Yes, I will! Just leave it to Jiang Guiju and Xiaomei at the shop!'
Han Songlin's eyebrows rose slightly. In the past, Liu Yuyan would never have acted like this.
He remembered that when Han Songlin first suggested hiring someone at the shop, Liu Yuyan had objected.
She thought that if she could do the work, why should she hire someone else and pay them a salary?
Very typical of a small farmer's thinking.
'What's that look in your eyes?'
She's noticed!
"Nothing, I was just thinking that if you go back, you can just sun-dry the grain and prepare the meals at home, and don't go into the fields.'
As for sun-drying the grain, anyone can do it.
Han Songlin remembers seeing a few woven bamboo mats at home, and wonders if they can still be used.
There shouldn't be any problem.
Liu Yuyan suddenly remembers, 'My parents said that the grain can be threshed in a few days!'
Oh!
Han Songlin pondered for a moment, and realised that he had really forgotten about this!
"Once we're done harvesting our own crops, we'll go and help them thresh theirs!'
The next few days were a busy time for Han Songlin.
It was harvest time, and everywhere there was a busy scene.
Han Songlin's fields were harvested with the help of several families, which is simply a form of labour exchange.
Han Songlin could not just reap his own crops and walk away; he also had to help others with the harvest.
'With this threshing machine this year, it's much easier than before!' Han Songqing was beaming with joy. The increased efficiency naturally meant that there would be extra time to go to the city and earn money.
Han Songlin did not reply, his gaze occasionally falling on Han Ze. The meal was quite good today; when Han Songlin returned, he bought two pork knuckles.
He returned and started cooking it right away, which took a long time and made the meat fall apart.
Of course, it tasted quite good.
The little guy's mouth was full of oil now. Han Ze has always had a good appetite and is not picky about food.
Except when he was young and didn't like bitter melon!
The local bitter melon nowadays is really bitter; on the contrary, when he grew up, he wanted to eat this kind of bitter melon that was very bitter in his memory, but rarely saw it.
Even if I do eat it, it doesn't have the same bitter taste as when I was a child.
What's the point of eating bitter melon if it's not bitter?
'Brother, are you going to your father-in-law's place to thresh the grain tomorrow?'
Han Songlin: 'Yes, your sister-in-law is back to sun-dry the grain!'
Han Songlin is going to spend a day or two helping his father-in-law's family thresh the grain.
Of course, he has to ask Liu Yang to come back too.
Liu Yang is small and has thin arms and legs, so he is not asked to go back to the fields to cut the rice or step on the threshing machine, but to go back and dry the grain.
It is a good thing for children to do some farm work from an early age, at least so that they can know that every grain of food is hard-won.
Needless to say, Han Songlin went to his father-in-law's house to help with the farm work, and spent two days helping to harvest all the grain.
Han Songlin's own grain was also almost dry.
Since it had dried, it was time to store the grain.
In the countryside, basically every household had a granary for storing grain.
These granaries were made from woven bamboo, with cement on the inside and outside.
The base was made from wood and was small at the bottom and wider in the middle.
To store rice, a wooden ladder was used to pour the grain in through the top opening. There was a small opening at the base of the lower part, which allowed the grain to escape.
Normally, mice would not enter here.
If a rat does get in, it will die because there is food but no water.
Moreover, the top is covered with boards or a silkworm basket.
The exit is gnawed by rats anyway.
Nowadays, there are a lot of rats in the countryside, and one important point is that there are relatively few families that feed cats and dogs in the countryside.
The main way to get rid of mice in the countryside nowadays is also very simple and direct, which is to use rat poison.
If everyone uses rat poison, who dares to feed a cat?
In the future, after everyone uses less rat poison, they will start feeding cats.
A cat in the countryside will be scolded if it doesn't catch mice.
Han Songlin's family also used to keep several cats, and they were quite effective.
Han Songlin still remembers as a child his father getting up at night to fight the mice.
Carrying baskets of rice to the granary meant that the busy farming season was over for the year.
'Now there shouldn't be much work at home!'
'And, in a little while, we'll be digging sweet potatoes!'
Han Songlin looked at Liu Yuyan in shock. What on earth had she been doing?
"Listen, we don't want the sweet potatoes!'
Liu Yuyan widened her eyes and said impatiently, 'No way! I've just dug up the sweet potato vines, and you're saying we don't need them? How is that possible! I was going to make sweet potato flour this year!'
What can you make with sweet potato flour?
Starch!
You can also make vermicelli and meat sauce with it. There are lots of ways to eat it.
'Make sweet potato flour?'
Well, this is another memory point that gets to Han Songlin.
Nowadays, in the countryside, you won't go buy sweet potato flour and the like; you make it all yourself.
That said, the starch content of sweet potatoes is generally 20%-28%; this is the starch content, which does not mean that the flour yield can be this high.
If you make it yourself in the countryside, the flour yield can generally reach more than ten percent.
In other words, for every 100 catties of sweet potatoes, you get more than ten catties of sweet potato flour.
As for the residue, it is usually used to feed pigs.
The residue after the starch has been filtered out actually has no nutritional value.
'Are you sure you want to make sweet potato flour?'
Liu Yuyan: 'Yes, I've already agreed with a few families to get the machine together to make it.'
Well, since it's already been agreed, Han Songlin won't say anything more.