Siheyuan: There are three little cats at home

Chapter 428 Waiting for the bus
The sun was so strong that the scorching air seemed to be on fire.

The heat wave surged, making people feel uncomfortable all over.

Xu Qing raised his hand to wipe away the beads of sweat that fell from his forehead to his face, jumped off the pile of corn that was burning on his feet, took out his cigarette, and walked back to the commune's house where he temporarily stayed for entertaining guests, lowering his head and thinking secretly.

Collecting the grain is the first step. After that, it has to be processed and ground into flour, and then repackaged before being transported to the grain station for sale.

This is much more cumbersome than simply selling the country’s finished grain products on behalf of others.

However, the trouble is more troublesome and the hard work is self-evident.

But you can make more money, regardless of the trouble or hard work.

Nothing more.

Xu Qing opened the door, took off his straw hat, sat on the kang, stubbed out the peony cigarette in his hand, grabbed the slightly faded white enamel tea jar, raised his head and poured the herbal tea inside into his stomach.

Only then did the whole person feel comfortable.

Er Mazi left in the morning, and Xu Qing knew that he might not be able to come back until evening.

It was noon again, the sun was shining brightly, the commune courtyard was full of corn, and the weather was scorching hot. Except for the secretary Wang Mingsheng and the two veteran cadres of the commune who arranged to take care of the food in the commune courtyard, no one could be seen. .

There were only two local dogs lying down and taking a nap in the shade of the tree.

Xu Qing lay on the kang in the room, leaning against the quilt, and took a nap.

After resting at noon, he was not in a hurry to collect grain in the afternoon.

Instead, he sat on the corn pile, chatting with a few people in the commune who had nothing to do, while waiting for Er Mazi.

The commune now has no place to store grain, and all the open spaces, including the corners, are filled with sacks of corn.

We have to bring the more than 200 kilograms of grain collected yesterday and today back to the city warehouse before we can continue to collect it.

But Xu Qing was not idle while waiting for Er Mazi. He chatted with others and asked:
"Do you want to buy these two native dogs from our commune?"

The old man, smoking a dry cigarette and wearing a patchwork coat, pointed his cigarette pot at the white-haired native dog in front of Xu Qing and said:

"This white dog is the gatekeeper of the commune. I don't want to buy it. But that yellow dog just gave birth to a litter of pups, and no one wants to raise it. The commune Dazhao doesn't have any leftovers to feed them every day. Shopkeeper Xu, you If you want it, feel free to take it away and keep it in our commune, I’m afraid you won’t be able to support it.”

Hearing this, Xu Qing stuffed the golden corn kernels back into the sack, stood up and said:

"Old man, why don't you take me to take a look at those puppies and let me see how they are doing? If they are good, I will take them back to the city to feed them after I collect the grain in our commune."

The old man banged his cigarette pot on the sole of his shoe, stood up, put on the cloth shoes that were sitting under his buttocks, put the cigarette rod on his waist, and led Xu Qing towards the firewood pile in the commune's stove.

"Look, those four little guys are staying right here."

Xu Qing stood in front of the firewood pile and leaned down to look in the direction of the old man's fingers. He saw four puppies huddled together. They looked like they had just been weaned.

The old man bent down and grabbed one, brought it to Xu Qing and said, "This one is very smart. It screams when it's hungry. It will be no problem to be a housekeeper when it is raised."

Xu Qing said nothing, nodded, picked up the other three ones one by one, looked at them carefully, and asked:
"Old man, are these four the only ones in this litter?"

"No, one of them died. He was sick since he was born. He died within two days and was buried long ago."

Xu Qing groaned, took out the peony cigarettes on his body, handed one to the old man and said:

"Old man, if the commune really doesn't want these four, I will take them all to the city and feed them."

Seeing that Xu Qing handed him a good cigarette, the old man wiped two handfuls on his clothes with both hands, his eyes shone brightly, and he continued to smoke with excitement:

"It's okay. Shopkeeper Xu, just take them away. As long as they are raised well, these four dogs will be fine for guarding the home and nursing home. But don't raise them until they are big enough to eat meat. That would be a pity."

Xu Qing shook his head and smiled: "Old man, I plan to raise them and let them help me guard the warehouse I just built. I have never thought about eating meat." Hearing this, the old man said repeatedly:

"That's good, that's good. Our local dog, no matter how good-looking he is, he is definitely a good housekeeper and nurse. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't even give it to him. You are the shopkeeper." , open a food station, I don’t think you want a dog for meat.”

Xu Qing used a lighter to help the old man light the flue:
"That's natural. If I want to eat meat, it would be better to raise pigs. Pigs will gain weight and it's much more cost-effective than raising dogs."

The old man puffed on his cigarette and said with a look of enjoyment: "Yes, if you want to eat meat, it's better to raise pigs. Pigs can't be eaten and can grow to more than 100 kilograms in half a year. I heard Secretary Wang say that after In a period of time, the state will send twenty piglets to our commune. If you come back with Comrade Diao before the Chinese New Year, you can eat meat in time."

Xu Qing smiled and hummed, and he and the old man returned to the corn pile where they were sitting before, and continued chatting about raising pigs.

Nowadays, raising pigs in rural areas is rare.

And they are all specially raised by designated persons from the commune.

Just like raising cattle or sheep.

However, cattle are raised to cultivate the land and will not be sold to meat factories for slaughter.

No one dared to sell the cattle for money.

If it is discovered, it must be dealt with.

Unless the cow dies, it will be taken away by people from the supply and marketing cooperative or the meat factory.

Oxen, donkeys, and mules are all used for work.

Pigs and sheep will be sold to the state when they are ready for slaughter.

But these days, the domestic pigs are all black-haired native pigs, not the imported white pigs of later generations.

The growth cycle of white pigs is short, only three to four months, and the meat yield rate is high.

The growth cycle of native pigs takes more than ten months, but the meat tastes better than that of white pigs.

Xu Qing and the old man sat in the commune courtyard, chatting until the sun set and it was time for dinner, and then they went to Dazao for dinner with everyone who had returned from work.

The moon has appeared in the sky, but it is still bright.

The Milky Way is upside down and can be seen looking up.

At this time, in the commune compound, the evening breeze was blowing, cool and pleasant.

After all, it is the countryside, surrounded by either mountains or forests.

In addition, there are not many people in the countryside, which is different from the city.

Although it's no longer hot here in the city, it's not as cool as the countryside at this time.

The educated youths who used to live in the commune and jumped in line have left one after another as the ten years of change have come to an end.

Now here in the commune, when Xu Qing came yesterday, he didn't see many familiar faces.

Some of them were natives of the countryside, as well as commune cadres and production captains of various brigades.

After dinner, Xu Qing heard the rumble of a truck in the commune compound just as the sky was about to darken completely.

At the same time, the two adult native dogs in the commune courtyard started barking alertly and rushed outside the commune courtyard.

Xu Qing knew that Er Mazi had hired a car to rush back from the city, so he hurriedly asked Wang Mingsheng, the commune secretary, to have the gate of the commune compound opened.

So that the truck can drive to the gate of the commune, load the food later, and transport it back to the city overnight.

(End of this chapter)