My village can't be like this

Chapter 128 Collecting Potatoes and Digging the Cellar

Every time when it came to proposing marriage to Zhang An, Wang Fang and Zhang Jianguo always had some or no hints to Zhang An, both openly and secretly.

But no matter what, Zhang An just didn't answer.

In the end, the two saw that Zhang An was not answering the topic, and they were bored, so they stopped talking.

Anyway, Wang Fang has made up her mind, Zhang An has an excuse no matter what she says in the past two years.

When she reaches the age of two years, this matter will not be discussed with her.

At that time, it will not be like this now, and we will discuss it calmly.

"This is the old kite you caught earlier?"

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 dared to move, and squatted on the ground trembling.

It's just that they waited for a long time, probably because they saw that the flower heads didn't attack them, so they slowed down.

But they had gone into the cherry grove now, far away from the flower heads.

"You child, the claws of the old kite are so sharp, you don't have something to put on your shoulders, what if you scratch a few holes."

Wang Fang didn't care about the flower head, but looked at Zhang Anren holding the flower head on his shoulder, feeling a little worried.

"Mom, it's okay, it can control its strength and won't scratch me."

If Huatou can understand, she must despise Zhang An.

How dare you grab it hard? You have already been beaten several times, so you can't continue to be beaten.

"Dad, that's it. I named it Huatou. Look at its head. It's Huatou."

Zhang Jianguo and his wife had already seen Zhang An's name Tianwang.

Anyway, these animals in the house don't matter, if there is a child in the future, you must not give him any trouble.

"Why does the flower head look bigger than other old kites?"

Zhang Jianguo is no stranger to old kites. When he sees the flower head, he can feel that the flower head is much bigger than ordinary old kites.

"Dad, the flower head is indeed bigger than other old kites."

Under Zhang An's signal, Huatou had already stood on Zhang Jianguo's shoulder.

"Hiss, it's so heavy, how can it get close to me?"

Zhang Jianguo was shocked that Huatou could still get close to him. Usually, this eagle would not get close to others.

Zhang An was just thinking of trying, because just now his father reached out to touch it, but it didn't resist.

Unexpectedly, Huatou really did not resist her father.

"Maybe it knows we're family."

Zhang An thought about it, and there was only one possibility, which was the space spring water that his parents often used for eating and drinking.

The body has already carried the breath of space, so Huatou will get close to them.

Sure enough, Zhang An tried again, and Huatou was also very close to his mother.

But when Peanut was a cub, why didn't his parents get close to him?

In the end, Zhang An could only attribute it to the fact that his parents didn't have a strong sense of space at that time.

Since the flower head is too heavy, it is not a problem to squat on Zhang An's shoulder all the time.

Zhang An clapped his hands, let him fly to the sweet-scented osmanthus tree to squat, and then made corn berries by himself.

There are still big bags of tender buds on the ground now. If they are all crushed into pulp, it is estimated that there will be two barrels of them filtered out.

Zhang An felt that his family would have to eat it for a long time to make so many glutinous rice berries into glutinous glutinous rice cakes.

"Mom, our family beats so much pulp, I'm afraid we will have to eat it until the Chinese New Year."

"That's how much. When the time comes, it will be ready and distributed to your second uncle and third uncle's family. The two of them haven't done it this year, and if Xiao Li comes to get some, there won't be much left."

Zhang An thought that both of his uncles' families had made it. After all, after breaking the corn, everyone would have some tender ones left.

No wonder my mother has to do so much, it's not a lot of points.

Finally, after spending two or three hours, the pair of bracts were finally beaten into pulp.

Now there is no machine, and it is too laborious to fight with a kitchen knife.

Finally, Wang Fang took out a large piece of gauze and filtered it, and rinsed the filtered corn dregs with clean water, so as not to waste any starch.

There will be no business for Zhang An in the future, he can get up and shake around, and it is really too much to sit for a few hours.

"Today we dig yams, uncle."

Zhang An who just went out and was going to stroll around the village.

I saw the second uncle Wang in the front yard returning with two baskets of freshly dug yams.

"When there is nothing to do these few days, I dug it up first. Did your family dig it?"

Uncle Wang looks over 50 years old and is already an old shoulder pole.

These two large baskets of yams probably weighed about a hundred catties, but judging by the way he picked them up, it was still easy.

"Our family hasn't dug it yet, and we will dig it in the next few days. This year's yams are growing so big."

Zhang An looked at the yams in Uncle Wang's basket, they were all very big.

"The past two years have been good, and it's good to plant anything on the ground. This thing has been seen for a year. Xiaoan, your family hasn't dug it yet. You can get some later and eat it."

"No, no, second uncle, our family still has something to do, and soon my family will be digging."

In the end, Zhang An said a few more words to the old man, and did not chat with him all the time.

After all, it is very laborious for others to carry the burden.

Walking around the village, Zhang An saw that many people who came back from the mountains were digging yams.

During this period of time, it can be seen that everyone's faces are full of joy of harvest.

Not long ago, I just finished harvesting the corn, sweet potatoes and potatoes during this period.

It can be seen from their faces that this year is another bumper harvest year.

In the past two years, someone has harvested the yams grown in the mountains. They cost about [-] cents a catty, and the bigger ones can be sold for more.

This is better than in the past years. No one came to harvest them before, and as much as they grew at home, they were used to feed pigs.

Now that it can be sold, it can be regarded as a source of income for the family.

"Dad, I see that every family in the village is digging yams. Why don't our family do the same?"

After Zhang An came back, he told his parents about digging potatoes.

"That's all right, let's go tomorrow, and there are sweet potatoes at home."

Zhang An's family also planted less than half an acre of yams and sweet potatoes this year, and it is estimated that a lot can be dug out.

Early the next morning, the family of three got up and packed up their things and led the big black horse up the mountain.

The yams of Zhang An's family are a little far from the sweet potatoes, mainly because of the soil quality.

Artichokes and sweet potatoes will grow better in sandy soil, and the nearby mountains are not sandy soil.

When he got to the field, Zhang Jianguo cut the potato vines and sweet potato vines first.

In previous years, these would have been taken back to feed the livestock, but now the family doesn't need these things.

So I cut it and put it next to it, and waited for a while to dig up the yams, and dug some mud to cover them.

When they rot, they can be fertilized.

Zhang An picked up the hoe and began to dig potatoes. He said it was digging, but it was actually more like a planer.

This thing pays attention to strength when digging. If you don't pay attention, it will be impossible to dig directly into the potato with a hoe.

"This year's yams are not small, each one is like a big bowl."

Wang Fang saw the yams dug out from her own field, each of them was like a big bowl.

The whole person was very happy. Seeing this, Zhang An couldn't bear to interrupt his mother.

After all, the potatoes dug by other families in the village are quite large this year.

In her eyes, it was all money, and she couldn't eat much for herself.

When planting yams, Zhang Jianguo carried a lot of grass manure to plant them.

It took the family a whole day to dig up the half acre of potatoes and sweet potatoes.

The potatoes and sweet potatoes at home have piled up into a hill. If it was before, it could only be used to feed pigs every day.

Originally, Zhang An's family planned to sell most of them, leaving some enough for their own food.

But things backfired, and the potatoes grown this year were worthless.

The second uncle who went to call someone to collect potatoes a few days ago said that he could have sold more than [-] cents or even [-] cents a catty of potatoes last year.

This year, when people come to collect it, they will only pay a price of more than [-] cents per catty.

So now everyone is quite unwilling. If it is sold, the price will be too low and it will not be worthwhile.

If you don't sell it, you won't be able to eat it all, and it will easily spoil if you pile it up, and it's not worthwhile to feed pigs.

People in the mountains around Hongyan Town don't have the habit of digging cellars.

Generally, sweet potatoes and potatoes dug up at home are piled up in a room.

So although potatoes are durable to store, they end up getting spoiled a lot.

But the potatoes that have been spoiled have a particularly strong taste, just like the ones that have been drained.

Regarding the price of potatoes this year, Zhang An is somewhat understandable.

Not to mention other places, just in Changqing Village, anyone with a discerning eye can see that everyone is digging potatoes.

This year's potatoes are a bumper harvest, many and big, much better than last year.

If there is excess capacity, the price will definitely come down.

But Zhang An's ability to understand does not mean that he is willing to sell 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 be damaged for a long time.

But such potatoes disappeared all of a sudden, and Zhang Anke couldn't explain it clearly.

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 a catty, so it's better to keep the flour.

Although no one in Zhang An's family knew how to dig a cellar, there were people in the village who could.

Wang Xinghua, who sells roasted wine in the village, has a wine cellar in his house, and his elder Wang Qiyan dug it himself.

So after dinner at night, Zhang An carried some things and went to Wang Xinhua's house.

"Uncle Xinghua, is my uncle at home?"

Everyone is from Shangzhai, so they are familiar with it.

Wang Xinghua's family has the same surname as Wang Fang, so regardless of whether they are directly related or not, Zhang An 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 beckoned Zhang An to sit at home.

"Come here, why do you bring something here, you are a real kid."

Seeing that Zhang An had brought some things, 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 neighbor relationship.

Zhang An wants to find someone to work, so this ceremony must be done properly.

As a result, several people chattered about family affairs, and after some gossip, Zhang An got down to business.

"Uncle, I heard from my dad that you always know how to dig cellars."

"It's no big deal to dig a cellar. Your son wants to dig one?"

"I want to dig one at home. Why don't I come here to ask for your help? The price of yams this year is too low, and I'm a bit unwilling to sell them, so I decided not to sell them at all and dig a cellar for storage."

"It's also like this. When the annual title is not good, everyone can't eat. If the annual title is good, they can't sell the price. It's us who grow the 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, but I can't guarantee that I will need help from others someday.

Besides, this piece came to the door and brought so many things, it would be unreasonable not to help.

The next day Wang Fang got up and made breakfast, and after inviting Mr. Wang Qiyan over for breakfast, she was about to start work.

It is said to be a cellar, but in fact it has not been dug underground at all.

Zhang An planned to dig in the backyard, just dig directly into the mountain in the backyard.

Zhang An's backyard is at the foot of the loess slope, full of loess, and there is no worry that it will collapse when dug.

Calling Mr. Wang Qiyan to come over is mainly because he wants to give him guidance, so that there will be problems everywhere after digging.

After choosing a place, Zhang An took a pickaxe and started digging.

It took a long time to dig in from the ridge in the backyard on a flat surface. It took a long time to dig out holes that were more than one meter high and two meters deep.

"No wonder people in the village say that Anzi is very strong. I saw it today."

Seeing Zhang An dig so deep in one breath, his face was not red and he was not panting.

Mr. Wang Qiyan sighed a little. When their generation was young, there were many people with strong strength, but they had hardly seen anyone like Zhang An.

The hole has been dug, and the next step is to start digging the cellar.

Zhang An dug this hole obliquely upwards.

The advantage of this kind of digging is that if water accumulates outside in the future, the water will not be poured into the cellar.

Even if Zhang An's family had dug a drainage ditch in the backyard, Zhang An would not save this effort.

Zhang Jianguo and the others started digging together with a hoe after Zhang An dug the inside enough to accommodate a few more people.

The passage can be dug shorter, but the cellar needs to be dug larger.

There are so many things to put in the house, and it will not be able to fit without digging a little bigger.

And there is no guarantee of what to put in it in the future.

After two full days of digging, the cellar of Zhang An's family was dug, and Zhang An even worked overtime at night to dig.

The main reason is that the more you dig in, the more porcelain the soil will be, and it will not be easy to dig out.

But just digging out the cellar space is not considered as a family.

In the end, Mr. Wang lit a fire inside and roasted it for a long time before it was finished.

Wait until the last few days, you can put the potatoes and sweet potatoes at home.

There are too many animals in the house, so Zhang An specially made a cellar door and installed it to prevent them from running inside.

After a few days, Zhang An began to move the potatoes and sweet potatoes piled in the house.

At this time, the potato harvesters from the town also came to the village to yell.

Many families in the village finally sold their potatoes.

Although the price is a bit cheaper, money is something that is only in your hands if you hold it in your own hands.

However, there are still a few people who don't want to sell. They saw that Zhang An's family dug a cellar, and they all followed suit.

So in the past two days, Mr. Wang Qiyan has basically been doing nothing.

It's either this one or that one.

But at least it started the era of cellars in Changqing Village.

(End of this chapter)