Peasant woman

Chapter 7

"Then what about Miao Miao and Brother Jun?" Xu Cao couldn't help asking when she saw Miao Miao, who was carrying a small child wobbly in the yard.She didn't dare to count on Niu Shi, but she wouldn't be at ease if she left the two children alone at home.

"Why don't sister-in-law stay and watch the children, I can't count on the third sister-in-law." Yang Xiaoan couldn't help frowning when he mentioned Niu.She doesn't like the third sister-in-law, but the third brother likes it. If she insists on marrying in, she can't stop her.

Xu Cao thought for a while and said, "Second siblings have to cook at night, so I think the second siblings should stay and watch over Miao Miao and Brother Jun."

It was settled like this, Xu Cao and Yang Xiaoan went to the field to busy breaking corn, while Shen stayed at home to take care of Miao Miao and Brother Jun, and had to cook at night.The people in the village are all poor people, and the family only has two meals, one in the morning and one in the evening.

Niu Shi, Xu Cao and Xiao An are not talkative people, so they don't bother to talk about her.The two went straight to the field.

The fields in the village are all at the foot of the mountain, and there are people busy breaking corn everywhere. The two quickly walked to the field, greeted Father Yang's family, and Xu Cao got busy.I have been here for [-] or [-] years, and I have long been used to these farm tasks.

Soon, she broke a bamboo basket and walked towards the cart next to the field carrying the bamboo basket cumbersomely.

Father Yang was standing next to the cart, looking at Xu Cao, and hurriedly went up to meet him, "Master, I'm ready." Then, the father took the bamboo basket from Xu Cao's hand and put the corn inside into it. They all fell into the cart, and then sighed softly, "There are so many corn borers today, and this year's harvest will be damaged. I don't know if the corn will be enough for us to survive the winter after being ground. Thanks to In order to get rich and honor, go hunting in the mountains, and subsidize some households, hey."

Xu Cao looked at her father-in-law's sallow, ravine face, and couldn't help but said, "Father, my daughter-in-law doesn't know what to say."

Father Yang was taken aback, and looked at Xu Cao: "What's the matter? We are all a family, if you have anything to say, just say it."

Xu Cao smiled, looked at the corn cobs that were not very full, and said, "Father, I actually have a way to prevent corn borers. We will burn all the corn cobs before May next year, and we will plant corn in the future." You can plant some mung beans in the corn field by the way.”

Father Yang was stunned, "What's the idea? Why haven't I heard of it?"

"Father, I heard this from an old man when I was a child. The old man came to our village to beg and gave me a book. It's all about farming."

Although I don't want to lie, but the truth must never be told.

"Can the elders read?" Father Yang was a little silly, because there are not many people in the village who can read.

Xu Cao smiled, "Father, I learned this from the old scholar in the village when I was young. I can read some words, but nothing else." She deliberately went to learn how to read from the old scholar in the village. She knew all these characters and learned them with ease. .She was really embarrassed at that time.

Father Yang nodded when he heard the words. There was indeed an old scholar in the village, but he passed away two years ago.

"Boss, the method you mentioned is really useful. You don't know it. There are a lot of corn borers every year. We can't get rid of them no matter what. The annual corn production is not enough. Pay the grain tax. It’s good to survive until the Chinese New Year.”

Xu Cao scratched her head and said with a smile, "Father, I haven't actually tried this method, but I heard from the old beggar that it is because there are corn borer eggs hidden in these corn stalks. In the new season, it will grow into an adult and live on the newly planted corn stalks. The old beggar said that this is to eliminate the source of overwintering insects. In addition, plant some mung beans in the corn field, which can attract Trichogramma, corn borer Afraid of this."

In her previous life, she was a doctoral student at the Agricultural University, and she spent more than half of her 30 years studying agronomy. Although it has been more than ten years, she has never forgotten this knowledge.There were no such things as insecticides and pesticides in ancient times, so we could only use these simple methods.

Father Yang nodded dubiously. He was not sure if this method would work, but he planned to try it next year, after all, there was nothing to lose.

Xu Cao thought for a while, and then said: "Father, this corn stalk is not only for our family, but for the whole village. Otherwise, the corn borer will not be exterminated." In the past, the corn stalks were kept slowly. If it is used slowly, or it is left as a fertilizer in the field, the corn will suffer from the corn borer every year, reducing a lot of production.She also told her mother about this method, but her mother didn't allow her to finish talking, so she beat her up and down.

Father Yang nodded and said, "Success, I will talk to Lao Li Zheng in a few days, if the production increases next year, it will be considered a good thing."

Just as he was talking, Mrs. Chen from the corn field glared at Xu Cao, and said angrily, "Master, what are you talking about, do you want to be lazy, why don't you hurry up and break the corn."

Father Yang smiled awkwardly at Xu Cao, "Don't worry about it, old man, she is just like that, just ignore her."

"Father, it's okay, then I'll go over and break the corn first." She really thinks it's okay. Ever since she was a child, her mother's words have been much harsher than this Chen's, and she still has a strong idea to live happily .To be honest, she guessed that Miao Miao's mother just ran away because she couldn't bear Chen's words.However, those words that Mrs. Chen said must be much worse than these.

This farm work, the time passed fairly quickly, the sun soon set, and looking at the corn in the field, Xu Cao reckoned that they would be able to pick all of them in two days.

When she returned, Shen had already prepared dinner, steamed steamed buns mixed with thick noodles and cornmeal, some leftovers from yesterday's wedding banquet, and a large plate of pickled cabbage.As soon as Xu Cao went back to the room and washed her body, Fugui came back.

In addition to the huge ox horn bow that I carried on my shoulders in the morning, there are also two mountain jumpers and a roe deer.Not only that, but he also held a lot of things in his arms, wrapped in clothes.Seeing this, Xu Cao hurriedly went up to greet her, her face flushed slightly, "I'm back, let me get it, you go and wash it."

Behind him was a dancing sunspot.

Fugui threw the prey into the yard, hung the huge bow on his body under the eaves, and dragged Xu Cao into the room in a hurry with the things wrapped in the clothes.

Xu Cao blushed, and asked softly, "Fugui, what are you doing?"

Fugui didn't speak, and pulled Xu Cao to sit on the top of the kang, and then put the pile of things in his arms on the kang table and spread them out. Only then did Xu Cao see that there were about twenty wild eggs inside. There were several large bunches of wild grapes.The grapes are purple and black. Although the particles are small, they are full.It looks like ripe grapes.

Xu Cao glanced at Fugui in surprise, and exclaimed, "Why are there still wild grapes?" It was the end of October, but thinking about it, these ripe wild grapes should be picked at the end of October in the general deep mountains.

Seeing that Xu Cao was happy, Fu Gui also grinned, with a simple and honest smile, "The purple fruits in the mountains are all ripe, and they all fell to the ground. I thought you might like it, so I picked some back."

Xu Cao nodded happily, raised her head and smiled at him, "I like it." She picked one and stuffed it into her mouth, it was sweet and slightly sour.It tasted so good, she hurriedly twisted another one and stuffed it into Fugui's mouth.

She had already forgotten the taste of the grapes she ate in her previous life, but she also knew that those grapes were definitely not as delicious as the wild grapes in front of her.

After coming here for so many years, it is not that she has never eaten wild grapes. There are quite a lot of them on the mountain, but there are also many children nearby. Every year, these wild grapes are picked by the children as soon as they are ripe.There are many in the depths of the mountain, but no one dares to go in, except for very powerful hunters.

Looking at these wild grapes, Xu Cao's heart moved, she raised her head and said with a smile, "Fugui, are there still many wild grapes on the mountain?"

"Wild grapes?" Fugui grinned, "You mean these purple fruits. There are plenty of them in the mountains, so I picked a few bunches back. If you like them, I'll bring them back to you tomorrow."

"Really?" Xu Cao's eyes lit up, "Will it not delay your hunting?"

Fugui smirked and shook his head, and thought to himself: My daughter-in-law looks so pretty when she smiles, her eyes are curved and bright.

"Then you can pick some more for me tomorrow, okay? I'll make jam and sell it in the town."

There is no jam in this world. Xu Cao thought that if there were more grapes, he could make some jam and sell it in the town, so that he could make some money for his family.

Fugui grinned, "Success, I'll bring you some more tomorrow." As he spoke, he pulled the grape steaks onto the table, picked up the remaining wild eggs, and dragged Xu Cao towards the kitchen, "I'm looking for I bought a lot of wild eggs, and I will ask my second brother and sister to cook some later, you should eat two more to replenish your body."

This year, all the chickens raised in Zhanghe Village and nearby died of illness, so this year's eggs are a rare commodity. Normally, when Fugui picks up wild eggs, he sells them directly in the town.

Fugui hugged the eggs and pulled Xu Cao to the kitchen. Seeing Mrs. Shen, he grinned, "Second brother and sister, I picked up some eggs today, you cook some for my wife, Miaomiao and Brother Jun to eat, and the rest The rest will be fried later, add vegetables."

Shen smiled, glanced at Xu Cao, and said with a smile, "Sure, then I'll secretly cook a few for my sister-in-law to eat. Then I'll fry all the rest."

Fu Gui foolishly smiled, "Success."

(End of this chapter)