Wang family small peasant girl

Chapter 13

That night, Mrs. Zhou took out all the old quilts in each house, and planned to put them in the yard to dry in the yard tomorrow. When winter came, they could be used as quilts and then spread on the kang, so that they would be more warm than usual. some.

A few quilts were so divided, Zhou and Zhang Youqing got a bed, Zhang Xing was with his parents, and Zhang Zhang and his grandfather shared the same room, they both got a bed, Zhang Yun got a bed alone, and the rest One was put into a cage by Mrs. Zhou, thinking that there was going to be a guest at home, so she took it out and used it.

At night Zhang Yun was lying on the kang, and felt that the new quilt on his body smelled really good, without the musty smell of the wet and cold old quilt, and the quilt cover was also brand new. She was also surprised that she didn't know when the quilt was sewn on the bare cotton wadding.

But Mrs. Zhou laughed and said, "Your grandma and auntie must have sewn it up overnight, so let's take it out and use it." Only then did Zhang Yun come to his senses, looking at the new quilts, Straight to the heart.

The warm new quilt made Zhang Yun sleep extraordinarily sweetly. When she woke up the next day, it was a little later than usual. She quickly climbed out of the bed, got off the kang to get dressed, tidied up the bed, and took out the wooden basin, Bujin hurried out of the house.

When we got to the yard, we didn't see anyone. At this time, grandpa, father, and Cheng Zi must have gone to the ground. Zhang Yun looked around and didn't know where his mother had gone. He was about to go to the kitchen to look for it. When Mrs. Zhou came in from outside the fenced courtyard, she carried two wooden buckets of clear water on her shoulders. The wooden buckets were thick and tall, and the two buckets of water were so full that they bent the shoulder poles downward.

Zhang Yun hurried up to help, but Mrs. Zhou waved her hands and said, "These two buckets have just been fetched from the Qingling River, and the wind has been blowing all night and it's very cold. You should go to the water tank to scoop up water to wash, there are still some left over there. It's warmer than this water." As soon as Zhou was speaking, he had already walked into the kitchen and rested his burden in front of the water tank.

When Zhang Yun scooped water from the water tank, Mrs. Zhou poured two buckets of water into the water tank, took the bucket and pole, and went to the Qingling River, and did not fill the water tank until it went back and forth four times.Mrs. Zhou refused to ask Zhang Yun to help carry water, so she picked up thatch and firewood, lit the stove, and started to make breakfast.

Put the cooked sorghum porridge in a stuffy pot, Zhang Yun went to the cupboard and took out the clay pot, which contained dried pickled cowpeas, grabbed a few handfuls and put it in a bowl, then put the pot back in the cupboard, and opened the pot at grandma's house along the way. Canned potherb mustard, to see if it is well marinated. Seeing that the water is sizzling in it, pinch a pinch and put it in your mouth to taste. It feels a little lacking. I guess it will take another two or three days.

Zhang Yun wanted to wait for the potherb mustard to be fully cooked, cut some chili and stir-fried it. It tasted hot and sour, and it was delicious after thinking about it. Unfortunately, he had to wait for a few days, so he could only shred the pickled cowpea and spoon it into his grandmother's house. The chopped peppers I brought are mixed with the pickled cowpea. The red and green ones in the bowl look good.

After Mrs. Zhou picked up the water, Mrs. Zhang Yun had already cooked breakfast. The two women sat on the stool by the water tank and started eating with bowls in their hands. Mrs. Zhou tasted the mixed dried pickled cowpea and boasted, saying that Make it delicious.

Zhang Yun said with a smile: "Mother, let's also pickle some chopped peppers in the future. This is delicious for cooking and cold salad."

"Okay, when the field is free, mother will pull out the peppers, and pickle more if you like." Zhou replied with a smile.Zhang Yun has always liked spicy food, so he was very happy to hear this. After finishing a bowl of sorghum porridge, he got up to fill the bowl again, sat down and said casually: "Mother, I see that my uncle's house has a well, and the water it draws is bigger than the river on weekdays." It's much more convenient to pick from the inside, why don't our family dig a well, and save my mother the trouble of carrying water."

"The field is so busy, how can I find the time, and besides, our family only has three strong laborers including your grandfather. There is not enough manpower at all. If you ask for help, you have to pay wages. We still have to take care of the wages, and our family has to pay off the debts, so it’s not enough if we don’t worry about it, one thing more is worse than one thing less.” When Zhou mentioned these things, he began to mutter.

Zhang Yun thinks about it too. Before grandma went there, she was ill for many years. The family borrowed money for medical treatment, which has not been repaid by now. But if it can be saved, it must be saved inside and out, and it is better to pay it off sooner. Debt, if you think about it like this, don't mention the matter of digging the well. After the mother and wife had breakfast, Mrs. Zhou started to pack the sorghum porridge and dried pickled cowpea, so that they could be sent to the field for breakfast for those who went to the field.

Mrs. Zhou went to the field with the bamboo basket, so Zhang Yun took a few long benches and lined them up in the courtyard, and took out the old quilts that were pulled out yesterday, one by one, to dry them.

After finishing it, she went back to the kitchen. She had already soaked the seeds of coriander, potherb mustard, and water hyacinth last night, put them on a half-wet sack and wrapped them up, and used the night to germinate them. It's been several hours, and she has to open it for a breath, and check the germination situation by the way.

Squatting down in the corner of the kitchen, opened the covered sack, and saw that the coriander and potherb mustard seeds inside had a lot of holes, showing signs of sprouting, while the water hyacinth lotus did not change at all, and Zhang Yun was not in a hurry. Let the seeds breathe for a while, and then pack them back. From the looks, the coriander and potherb mustard seeds should be sown after noon, and the water hyacinth will take longer.

After looking at the seeds, Zhang Yun was busy cleaning and wiping, pouring the chicken droppings in the yard on the plant ash, and using a shovel to shovel the plant ash into the shed in the backyard. These can be used as fertilizer, and some vegetable leaves are also picked Chop it up, mix it with wheat bran to feed the chickens, and put ten breeder eggs brought by my grandmother's house into the grass nest, so that the hen can hug the nest and hatch the chicks early.

After busying inside and out, the sun was already in the sky. Zhang Yun saw that the time was almost up, and went to lift the sack in the corner again. This time, he finally saw the coriander and potherb mustard seeds sprouting buds. Zhang Yun was happy Take the Shau Kei, carefully pick out the seeds and put them in the Shau Kei. After taking them out, wrap the ungerminated water hyacinth seeds, take the Shau Kei, a small hoe, and carry a small half bucket of water to go around to the vegetable field behind.

She had already asked her father yesterday, and she knew that the newly turned vegetable patch was sown with kale and cabbage seeds, and they were sown on the east side of the new vegetable patch, so Zhang Yun chose the west side, put the Shau Kei on the bench, put down the bucket, Squat down and take a small hoe to loosen the ground, then sow the germinated seeds evenly on the ground, then carefully cover the soil, scoop up water with a ladle and sprinkle it with water, the newly sown vegetable seeds are ready, Zhang Yun happily watched After a while, I carried a bucket and watered the other vegetables along the way. After watering, weeding, I was busy in the vegetable field for a while.

When she was out of the vegetable field, Zhang Yun picked up some vegetables by the way, and looked at the sky outside the kitchen. She guessed that it was almost time, so she hurriedly washed the vegetables, cut them up, and then went to wash the rice. It's time for the workers to come back, and then they can start cooking dinner.

After finishing all the work in the kitchen, Zhang Yun took a small bench and sat down for a rest under the eaves, watching the two hens squatting in the straw nest, thinking in his heart that soon there would be chicks hatching. Consciously smiled.

Zhang Yun leisurely watched the hens hugging their nests and the chicks pecking at their food. After a while, they heard noises from outside the yard, and the people from Zhang's family came back.

Zhang Youqing and Zhang Zhang entered the courtyard with farm tools, while Zhou carried a bamboo basket, followed by the first chapter with the roots stuffed with tobacco leaf foam, and followed into the courtyard. They didn't see Zhang Xing, so they guessed where to run with the children in the village. went.

She stood up and went up to meet her. Hearing her father and elder brother talking about ordering wheat, Zhou interrupted with a smile: "Finally we finished ordering wheat, and we can take a breather."

Zhang Youqing and Zhang Zhang agreed with a smile, and packed up the farm tools together. Zhang Liangen sat down on a bench and smoked dry cigarettes. Zhang Yun followed Mrs. Li into the kitchen. Mrs. Zhou washed her hands and started cooking. She wanted to help, but Mrs. Li Let her rest.

Seeing that the kitchen couldn't help, Zhang Yun went to lift the sack again, anxious to sow water hyacinth lotus in the pond, but when he opened the sack and looked in, the seeds still hadn't sprouted, so he had no choice but to wait patiently. , so I waited for two days. On the third day, Zhang Yun found that although the seeds had not germinated, they had already broken. She couldn't wait any longer and thought about planting them in the pond first. Some seeds, next time I will try another method to germinate them.

Zhang Yun has taken the time to look for ponds in the past few days. There are quite a few ponds in the village. There are three or four places, and there are many grass ditches, which have become her goals. For convenience, she chose the round pond closest to her home. , sowed the water hyacinth seeds, and then ran to the pond every day for three or four days, but not a single bud came out.

This day, after finishing her work at home, she ran to the pond again, looked at it for a while, until she could see the weeds by the pond, there seemed to be sprouts, but the weeds were dense, covering most of her sight, and she couldn't see them. Really, she squatted down hurriedly, pulled all the weeds to the side, opened her head to look, and finally saw clearly that it was just vertigo, not water hyacinths sprouting.

Zhang Yun couldn't help being disappointed, and pulled the weeds angrily, but got yellow powder in her hands. Throwing away the weeds and looking around, she found that there were many grasses that grew like candles in the weeds. Hi, quickly pulled out a few candles from the inside, and after a closer look, they were indeed water candles.

The cattails made from the stems of water candles are very tender and refreshing, and not only can people eat them, but pigs, cattle, and sheep also love them. In rural areas where water candles grow a lot, many of them are pulled out and used to feed livestock and poultry , its leaves are very resilient, and can also be used to weave baskets, cattail fans, straw sandals and so on. There are quite a lot of uses.

This time, Zhang Yun swept away the frustration just now, and squatted next to the round pond to pull out a water candle. It is also possible to feed the chickens, and it can also add a bowl of vegetables. If there are enough water candles, and other pigweeds are added, then there is no fear that the little piggy will not be enough to eat. Before the water hyacinth lotus grows, it is also possible to use this on top.

Zhang Yun pulled it out happily, and after pulling out one side, he searched for water candles in the weeds all the way. At some point, a figure sprang out from behind, and ran up to her, calling: "Yun'er."

Zhang Yun looked up and saw that Zheng Tiesuo was standing in front of him, he couldn't help feeling depressed, and slowly stood up.

(End of this chapter)