Take Arada back to the past

Chapter 18, The Queen Bee

Yang Xiaole took out a greasy salt water bottle from the kitchen and walked towards the brigade.

After leaving the village, the cornfields on both sides were directly submerged, and a lot of sticks had grown on them, and the harvest would be ready in more than a month.

From time to time, there are people patrolling nearby in order to prevent someone from stealing corn cobs.

A three-meter-wide dirt path with various weeds growing on both sides.

Across the corn field, there is a soybean field, followed by the rice field in Wanggezhuang.

Rubbing the edge of Wanggezhuang, we came to a main road, along which we soon arrived near the village committee of Hongqi Village, that is, the production brigade.

There is no rush to go to the consignment point, but continue to move forward.

After a while, I saw a thatched cottage on the side of the road.

There is no grain growing in the next field, and there are more than a dozen wooden boxes on it, and countless bees are flying around in the air.

Before I got close to the beehive, there were bees flying around in the middle of the road.

This thing is a treasure in this day and age.

Not to mention the rural people, even the urban people are not able to eat it for ordinary people. It is self-evident who can eat it.

Although he has never farmed before, he has gone to school.

Without bees spreading pollen, how could there be results.

And according to the growth rate in the space, it will be used soon, but don't just bloom and not bear fruit.

The beekeeper is an old man named Huang Tuozi, but the exact name is not clear.

The old man was busy on the grass.

With no gloves or protection on his hands, he just walked around in a group of bees, taking out a board from the beehive from time to time.

Yang Xiaole saw this scene, let alone go to the beehive to get things empty-handed, even if he got close now, he was afraid of being stung by bees.

That thing stings really hurts.

But at this time, he can't do it if he doesn't go!
Ask him to find wild honey, but he can't catch it.

Looking at the bees floating in the air, he walked over frowning.

The old man watched him coming, just glanced at him and didn't speak.

Quietly fiddle with your things.

Insert each board into a hand-cranked wooden barrel, and there is something like a water outlet next to it, and a small wooden barrel is placed underneath to receive honey.

The old man didn't rush to shake the honey, but cleaned some bees out of the beehive.

Some are dead, most are alive.

After it was done, the old man glanced at him and asked him, "What are you doing? Do you want honey? You only need the approval note from the commune."

Yang Xiaole shook her head: "No, Grandpa Huang, is it okay if I want two queen bees? I'm not in good health, so I use them to make wine."

When the hive is large enough, it will score nests, and the flying range of bees is limited.

This means that there is an upper limit to the amount of pollen that can be collected, and the number of bees that can be supported does not change much.

It has been fixed for so many years.

And there are quite a few queen bees who run out here every year, so the queen bee is not as precious as imagined.

Hearing this, the old man glanced at him, pointed to the bee that had just fallen on the ground and said, "Go there and have a look, there should be one."

Yang Xiaole stretched out his head to take a look, and walked over cautiously.

He was afraid that the bees in the air would give him a bite.

When he came close and looked at the bees crawling on the ground, he really couldn't tell which one was the queen bee!

The old man glanced at him, walked over and pulled a few times with his hands.

Pick out a bee with a longer tail, a darker body, and a slightly larger body than the other bees.

directly on the ground.

It's just that the bees are a little unhealthy, as if they can't fly.

"wait a moment."

The old man put the bees in front of him, then stood up, went to a beehive and looked at it for a while, and picked out another bee from it.

"Give it to you!"

When he was done, he went back and started shaking the honey.

Yang Xiaole looked at the bees on the ground, speechless for a while.

The sick queen bee that was crawling on the ground before was fine, but the healthy one that was caught from the beehive was crushed to death by the old man, probably because he was worried that the bees would fly away.

But just now he said that he took it to make wine.

It's hard to say anything now.

Looking at the bees crawling on the ground, Yang Xiaole thought for a while, and wondered if this thing could be saved with well water.

With the attitude of giving it a try, he found a leaf nearby and wrapped the two bees in it.

But when he left, he still asked, "Grandpa Huang, you gave me the queen bee, are you okay?"

"It's okay, there are two queen bees in that hive of bees, anyway, one of them will die in the end, it doesn't matter."

As the old man spoke, he shook the handle.

The board inside spins rapidly.

As for the bamboo spout, a stream of honey gushes out from it and falls into the wooden barrel below.

There are also many bee carcasses and parts inside.

Yang Xiaole looked at the honey and swallowed, he seldom ate sugar for a year, let alone honey.

But he knew that this honey could not be obtained.

If you are a relative of the other party, you can still get some secretly. If it doesn't matter, don't even think about it.

Can only leave resentfully.

Back on the main road, he quickly walked towards the village committee, while carefully watching the bees not fall.

When he came to a small forest, he looked around.

Seeing no one, he came to a bush and squatted down, quietly entered the space.

I read it in the morning, and he didn't care about other things at this time.

I got a drop of well water and put it next to the leaves of the tree, and then watched quietly there.

"Buzz"

Just as he was staring at the queen bee, he felt movement above his head.

Immediately let him know that it is a bee.

As if I could feel it, there was really one on top of my head, and one was lying on my clothes.

As his thoughts flashed, the two bees were taken away by him.

After finishing it, he set his sights on the queen bee in his hand.

At this time, the queen bee is sucking the well water.

"Hey, I really drank it!"

Seeing this scene, Yang Xiaole was happy for a while, but she didn't know whether drinking the well water would work or not.

After a drop of well water was drunk by the bee, the other party lay there motionless.

Seeing this, Yang Xiaole looked around, and a small wooden box appeared in his hand in the wooden house.

Put the queen bee in carefully.

As for whether it can live, it depends on its own good fortune. If it can't, he will think of a way.

He put the wooden box under the eaves of the hut, and put a few drops of well water on the leaves, and he didn't care anymore.

Get some pollen for it to eat later.

After finishing it, he was out of the space.

Looking up, he saw no one around, so he walked in the direction of the village committee.

After a while he came to a brick house.

It is the consignment point of Zhang Liuer's family.

A wooden board at the door is written with a brush: Hongqi Village Purchasing Agency Sales Point.

This used to be the real estate of Mr. Wu's rich family, but now it has been changed into a sales agency for Hongqi Village.

And the village committee is Wu Laocai's home.

"Zhang Liuer!"

At this time, the windows and doors of the store were wide open, and the inside was brightly lit by sunlight.

Zhang Liuer was reading a comic book behind the counter, when she heard the voice, she stretched her head to take a look.

Seeing the person coming, she was puzzled, "Yang Xiaole, why are you here?"

This guy is not in good health, and his family members usually come to buy things.

He rarely comes.

Yang Xiaole walked in with a smile: "Take a catty of soy sauce!"

He casually placed the empty soy sauce bottle on the wooden bar.

Seeing this, Zhang Liu'er put down the comic book and stretched out her hand: "Where are the eggs?"

Yang Xiaole smiled and took out 1 cents and handed it to her.

"I don't need an egg today."

Then he looked at each other there.

This girl is 13 years old this year, and in future generations, she will go to school early, and she will already be in the second year of junior high school.

The figure is also beginning to take shape.

Still can vaguely see some scale, although not large.

And the face of the other party is quite good-looking, but the face is dry and dark, which is a common characteristic of rural children.

Even if her family eats well, it's the same.

"Hey, I paid for it! Your soy sauce is used up so quickly, didn't your brother just make soy sauce the day before yesterday?"

Zhang Liuer asked casually with a smile, took the money casually, and put it in an iron box inside the counter.

Then came to the big tank next to it.

Picked a large wine hanger from the shelf, then opened the wooden cover on the big vat, filled it up and poured it slowly into the salt water bottle.

Although his movements are not as smooth as Zhang Laohan's, they are still very skilled.

Hearing this, Yang Xiaole felt that there were no secrets at all in the village. The day before yesterday, he ate fish and exchanged some soy sauce for a one-time use.

Come back now and be noticed.

Seeing Zhang Liu'er making soy sauce, he smiled and said, "Oh, I went to catch fish yesterday. That stuff consumes oil, so if there is no oil, I put soy sauce on top."

Zhang Liuer didn't care, so she asked casually.

Hearing this, she just nodded and poured the soy sauce with peace of mind.

After finishing it, he put the things back in place, stuffed the leather plugs and handed them over.

"what else?"

Yang Xiaole took a look.

This is a consignment store, much smaller than the supply and marketing cooperatives in the commune, and there are very few types.

A ten-character slogan was pasted on red paper on the top of the wall behind: Long live the Communist Party, serve the people.

There are two glass jars on the counter, which contain sorghum syrup and marshmallows.

A hand-held scale.

Behind the wall is a wooden shelf, on which some common supplies are neatly placed, such as soap, matches, salt, brown sugar, tooth powder...

And things like work gloves.

Yang Xiaole took a look and found that most of them don't need tickets, but there are not many general categories! !

As for the brown sugar wrapped in newspaper on the shelf, it's a good thing, but it's probably been there for several months.

As for why there are things like brown sugar that require tickets here.

That's because there are many votes in rural areas, but the amount is very small.

After completing the above-mentioned grain-growing tasks every year, a part of tickets will be issued to buy scarce things.

Otherwise, rural people who don’t weave cloth and don’t produce sugar will never be able to wear clothes or eat sugar for the rest of their lives.

It's just that the amount is very small, not enough at all.

There are seven people in their family. Last year, they only had two feet three cloth tickets and three taels of sugar tickets.

Barely enough to make a suit.

But the current cotton cloth is not wear-resistant, and a lot of this cloth will be used up every year just for patching.

I glanced at the cabinet and sold flashlights and batteries.

Shaking his head, this thing does not require a ticket, but the production team needs to issue a certificate to buy it, which is no different from asking for a ticket.

Pointing to a pile of light red wrinkled toilet paper, he said, "Give me two catties of toilet paper."

At this time, straw paper was not sold by knife, but by weight.

The price of this thing is actually not expensive, only 1 cents a catty, and not everyone in the countryside is reluctant to use it.

Anyway, my wife is reluctant to use it.

In her words, papyrus is expensive, and with so many families, it costs about two catties a month, and a few dollars a year.

How much money can you save a year if you don't use it!
The big deal is to wash it after pulling it.

(End of this chapter)