The daily farming life of the black-bellied young lady

Chapter 8
Later, it rained for several days, trapping Chu Ying at home. Fortunately, all the firewood outside was moved into the house, but the room seemed even smaller. The room was only 8 steps long and 6 steps wide. A row of clay pots and rice, half a wall of firewood and two baskets of cattail fleece were placed on the opposite side of where she slept, plus the stove in the middle, Chu Ying could touch the stove by turning her body three times.

Chu Ying put on the finished jacket first, and continued to sew the trousers. Her shivering body warmed up a lot, and it was not in vain that she got up every morning to pick cattail ears.

There was no cotton in this era, but there were several shops in the West Market Cloth Shop that sold silk floss.But add 5 taels of cotton to a brocade robe, add 4 taels of cotton to a jacket, and add 3 taels of cotton to a hakama.

This is still third-class Si Mian, and first-class Si Mian Chu Ying can already predict that even if she sells herself, she won't be able to add Mian.

When I pick it myself in the morning, I can still see some other women picking it. It seems that cattail velvet is the winter gospel for the hardworking people before cotton appeared.

When the weather was fine, Chu Ying had already made two sets of clothes, one was thinner and the other was thicker, and there was a place reserved for her hands and feet, so she could put them out and add cattail velvet when she grew taller.

There are still half of the coarse and fine cloth left, and then I will pick some cattail fleece and make a quilt. It is not too cold now, and Chu Ying can rely on the fire to keep warm, but it is colder, and a soft quilt is essential of.

When Chu Ying went out to pick cattail velvet, she saw that Brother Wang and the others had already started preparing for the autumn harvest. They took out all the things to wash and dry, so she had to go to the city quickly. When the autumn harvest came, there would be no bullock carts coming into the city. Everyone was too busy to turn their heads.

Chu Ying got up early the next day and went to the city in a bullock cart. "Chu Ying, you still have time to go to the city. I will go to the city to do some work and I won't go to the city tomorrow." Chu Ying saw that there was a broken sickle on Grandpa Li's car. Take it and fix it.

"I'll just check the progress. I don't have so many rice fields to cut, but I will help Brother Wang cut the rice in a few days." Grandpa Li originally wanted Chu Ying to go to him to help, even a girl can cut the rice. Few, but from what she said, it seems that someone has got there first.

"In the autumn harvest, if there is one more person, we can harvest more rice. The millet will be harvested when it is about to mature in the field, and the millet will fall when it is fully ripe. I am also most afraid of rain, and harvest when it rains. The dried millet is afraid of mold and will not be exposed to the sun." Chu Ying understands the importance of the autumn harvest to farmers, and after working hard for a year, she is waiting for a bumper harvest this time.

But when she arrived at the seed shop, Chu Ying panicked. There were so many sacks of seeds so densely packed that Chu Ying didn't know any of them.

"Xiaowa, what does your mother want to buy?" Qin Zhong, the owner of the seed shop, watched Chu Ying come in and stood there stupidly, thinking that the child had forgotten his mother's instructions.

"I don't know. There are several acres of wasteland at home." Qin Zhong thought that the child must have forgotten.

"Do you grow mulberry at home? Rice?"

"No, let's buy some rice seeds. These are newly harvested mulberries, and these are white pockmarks." Qin Zhong took out the sack and began to pack the rice.

"But the house is halfway up the mountain, and there is no river. Is there any wheat here?" Chu Ying looked at the words on the wooden sign and could only guess.

"Yes, don't you grow some mulberry and hemp in the bag next to the wall? How do you pay for silk? Those who have cotton will pay two feet of silk and three taels of cotton, and those without cotton will pay three feet of cloth and three catties of hemp." Qin Zhong leaned against the wall. Move out the innermost bag of wheat seeds.

"You want to pay these? Don't you want to pay money?" Chu Ying looked at the quality of the seeds.

"It is also possible to pay equivalent silver. Can your mother give you silver? One liter is 10 Wen."

"I'm an orphan, and my parents have left long ago. I think your wheat is old and has been piled up for a long time." Qin Zhong looked at the girl in front of him who was only 8 or 9 years old, and said that he was an orphan female words.

"I'm sorry. This wheat is from the year before last. How many acres of land do you have? You need 2 liters of seeds per acre for planting in front of Qiushe."
"3 mu, let's make it cheaper. You bought it from the year before last, and no one cares about it in the corner." Chu Ying looked at these wheat seeds with a look of disgust.

"That's fine, 3 mu is 6 liters, let's count 50 Wen for you, it's already very cheap." Seeing Chu Ying nodding, Qin Zhong began to pack wheat.

"Can you grow? Not many people grow wheat here."
"No." Hunting Chuying is still a bit sure, but farming is really a big deal.

"Take it back, hoe the ground well, hoe deep, spread it, cover the soil 2 inches, use your feet firmly, after the roots grow, hoe the autumn grass, and work hard, there will be no mistakes, you said yours Wasteland should be plowed when the soil is dry and wet, and when there is too much rain or the drought is uneven, it is better to plow when it is dry than when it is wet."
"Wait until the back of the soil turns white and then plow it. Not plowing it after plowing is like a waste of money. In short, one sows one harvest." Qin Zhong put 6 liters of wheat seeds in Chu Ying's basket.

"Do you want to buy something else?" Chu Ying was confused since she came in, so she just bought a wheat seed first.

"No, let's buy this first, here is 50 coins." Chu Ying walked down the street in despair, everything was difficult at the beginning.

Unknowingly, I walked to the backyard of the big family last time, but this time I didn't see that Hu Da.When I go back, I can ask Brother Wang to borrow farm tools. Anyway, they are busy with the autumn harvest, and after the autumn harvest, they also use the drying field to thresh, so they don’t need farm tools.

When Chu Ying returned home, she looked at the grass roots that reached her ankles, lit a fire from the house, took a wooden stick, and burned a circle of grass around the ground, and then extinguished it, forming a fireproof circle.

Then all the grass in the middle was set on fire. Fortunately, there was only a small piece of grass left after being mowed. The fire was not too big. After burning for an afternoon, the 2 mu of land was finally burned. When the time came, I borrowed farm tools to start plowing. up.

Chu Ying went to the lake to collect cattail ears, and checked the fishing traps by the way. Two of the three traps had big fish.It's finally a happy thing, but Chu Ying can't be greedy, she has to learn how to cook fish with Aunt Wang, otherwise she can only eat white rice in winter.

It was still dark when we arrived at Brother Wang's house, and Aunt Wang was already preparing to cook.

"Aunt Wang, are you busy? I caught two more big fish, do you think it can be cooked?" Aunt Wang put the lid on the clay pot with water on the stove.

"Yes, have the fish been washed? Do you still have clay pots at home? I need 1 clay pot of rice." Chu Ying went to the house to get two clay pots and rice, and when she came back, Aunt Wang had already washed the fish.

Aunt Wang cut the fish into two-inch-long, one-inch-wide, and five-inch-thick pieces, with skin on each piece, and soaked them in clay pots filled with water to remove the blood.

Then take it out and wash it in clean water, then take it out and put it on a plate, sprinkle it with salt, put it in a cage, cover it with a stone slab and squeeze out the water, and when the water is squeezed out, Aunt Wang took a piece and tasted it.

"Cook the rice into rice and use it to make rice. I cook it in the pot first, add dogwood, orange peel, and wine, a bucket of bream, and half a liter of wine. Use good wine."
Mrs. Wang put a layer of fish in the earthen pot, and a layer of thin, until it was full, and put the fat under the belly on top.On the top, we added more bamboo leaves, and spread bamboo leaves crosswise on the clay pots, eight layers, and then weaved them tightly with wattle twigs to seal the openings of the clay pots.

"It should be put in the house, not under the sun or near the fire, or there will be a bad smell. Don't be frozen in cold weather, the plasma comes out, pour it out, and the white pulp comes out, with a sour taste, and it's done. When eating, tear it with your hands , there will be a fishy smell when using a knife. If you don’t understand, I will teach you next time.”
"Mother, why isn't the meal ready yet? What are you and the kid behind you doing?" Wang Liyuan stretched and walked out of the back room.

"Teach her how to make fish, look at others, know how to make progress, and you won't even learn if you learn." Wang Liyuan hugged Aunt Wang and said coquettishly: "Isn't there a mother? Mother's craftsmanship is so good."
"Ms. Wang, I'm leaving first." Chu Ying deeply recorded the process just now in her mind.

"Chu Ying, why are you here?" Brother Wang came back from seeing Chai, and saw Chu Ying holding two clay pots at the door.

"Looking for your mother, please teach me how to make fish bream. I'll go first." With Aunt Wang's method, Chu Ying can stock up more fish bream for the winter. It seems that the wisdom of ancient people is still very high.

(End of this chapter)