Prosperity through farming

Chapter 3

"I'm from..." Zhang Xiaohan was tongue-tied, why did she know these things?Obviously no one has taught her, but she always feels that this is wrong, and that is the right way, "Hey, where did I know?" She stretched out her hand to her forehead and kept scratching, wishing to hide it inside. It's better to dig out those secrets that even she herself can't understand.

Seeing her distressed expression, Zhang Hoe pulled her little hand away and rubbed her forehead, which was red from scratching, "Don't worry, the old ancestors have said it, and you will know when you grow up. Eat Go, today I will let you taste the Huang Mengyu we ate, aren't you curious?"

Zhang Xiaohan's attention was turned away all of a sudden, "Really? Daddy is so kind." He rushed over to kiss him.

Zhang Hoe's eyes narrowed with a smile, "It's still our daughter who is well-behaved. Let's go, let's eat."

When the rice was served, Xiaohan carefully looked at the ones in his own bowl and those in his parents' bowls, and there was indeed a slight difference. The rice in the small bowl was whiter, while the rice in the two big bowls had larger grains and a yellowish luster. Compared with the ones I ate, the texture was obviously stronger.

Zhong Lanyu scooped up five or six rice grains with a small spoon from her own bowl, and put the spoon together into the small bowl in front of Xiaohan.

Xiaohan held the spoon firmly, and put the five or six rice grains into his mouth.

Chewing and chewing, the more you chew, the more delicious it is, but the millet in your mouth is a bit difficult to deal with such a tough rice grain, it took a quarter of an hour for Xiaohan to chew up these five or six rice grains and swallow them .

"Very fragrant," Zhang Xiaohan commented to his parents who were looking at him, "It just takes a lot of effort to eat."

"So, you have to wait until you grow up to eat this all day long." Zhang Hoe smiled, "However, this year Xiaohan has grown up, so you can also try five-flower porridge during the Chinese New Year."

"Five flower porridge?" Zhang Xiaohan swallowed a mouthful of the rice in his own bowl, and looked at his parents curiously.

"It is the porridge made from the four kinds of grains grown in the village, plus the citrus fruits that can only grow well in the mountains. On the day you ate the porridge last year, you were still attracted by the aroma for a long time. We didn't give it to you later. You eat, and you are so angry that you haven't talked to us for two days." Zhang Hoe picked up a chopstick of green vegetables and put them into his daughter's mouth, seeing her swallow them obediently, he smiled with satisfaction, "That's pork-flower porridge."

Zhang Xiaohan chewed the dish, thinking sideways, swallowed the dish, and she also remembered, "Is that very fragrant porridge?" The taste made her salivate, but she refused to eat it.

Zhong Lanyu explained to her with a smile, "Five-flower porridge is made with four kinds of grains and one kind of mountain fruit. You have tried it today. A small bite of Huang Mengyu's cooked rice makes you eat so hard. What's more Not to mention the other types, if you drink five-flower porridge, you will not be able to eat for at least a few days, which is not good for your stomach. Even this year's Chinese New Year, you can only take a small bite to taste .”

This year's Chinese New Year - it's only February now, the repayment date of this bad check is so far away that people don't even have the strength to look forward to it.

Zhang Xiaohan bulged his cheeks, chewing the rice vigorously, very unhappy, "It's still a long time."

Zhang Hoe and Zhong Lanyu looked at each other, a little understanding, a little worried, and a little funny, "So, what compensation do you want?"

"Daddy wants to take me to the river to play in the afternoon, and I want to watch uncle and the others catch fish." Zhang Xiaohan's eyes rolled around, she needed to know more about this world.

"Oh," Zhang Hoe smiled, "I like running outside so much, it seems that in the future..." Zhong Lanyu gave him a glare, and stopped talking again.

After eating and taking a nap, when he woke up, Zhang Hoe and Zhong Lanyu happened to walk in from outside the house.

This is also a very miraculous point, no matter in the morning or in the afternoon, as soon as she opened her eyes, her father and mother would always walk right in.

The Zhang family’s residence is a very ordinary small farmyard. The main house is a whole row of green brick and tile houses, and the six side houses are divided into left and right sides. In the middle is the largest main house with two entrances. The left side of the main house is the kitchen. The bath room, the storage room on the right, and the hut in the corner near the door on the right, but until now, Xiaohan has not checked what is inside.

Both the front and back yards seem to be martial arts fields. The elder brothers practice boxing and kicking in the front yard, and the back yard is where the parents practice martial arts. It is strange that when the parents practice martial arts, they never hug her to see them. have not seen.

Opening his eyes, still a little confused, he smiled at his parents who walked in, and called out softly, "Dad, mother, I want to drink water."

Just sitting up, I fed a small half cup of sweet mountain spring water into my mouth, and the temperature was just right.

Zhong Lanyu brought a white cloth and wiped her face.

"Do you want to go out for a run?" Zhong Lanyu teased her daughter.

You must know that after waking up from a nap every day, she would always go out and run wildly for a while.

"No," Xiaohan's order was much clearer than that of an ordinary four-year-old girl, "I'm going to play by the river today, and I'm going to watch my uncles fishing."

Zhang Hoe picked up his daughter, "Okay, let's go."

Zhong Lanyu caught up, "Wait a minute, put on your cloak, it will get cold later."

Zhang Hoe took the cloak and wrapped it around his daughter, "Let's go."

"Daddy, let's go faster." Xiaohan giggled.

"Go faster, I have to wrap you up," Zhang Hoe discussed easily, "Then do you want to go faster?"

"I don't want to wrap it up, or I won't be able to see clearly." The last time I went to the village school, I was tightly wrapped up, and I could only feel the skylight outside through the thick fabric. Wrapped so that you can't see it at all...

"Then let's walk slowly." Zhang Hoe reminded her, "It will take two hours."

Xiaohan was taken aback for a moment, he didn't expect to have to go for so long, "But, the eldest brother and the second brother went out to play, and they came back within three hours at most?"

"They use to run. When you get married, you can learn how to run faster." Zhang Hoe still smiled. "We use to walk. Of course we can't run fast."

"Then, let me down, let's walk for a while," Zhang Xiaohan compromised, "When I am tired from walking, I will let daddy carry me and run."

Zhang Hoe squatted down, put Xiaohan on the ground, and held her hand tightly, "Then, let's go."

After walking for a while, green young seedlings spread out in the fields on both sides, stretching as far as the eye can see, like a plain.

"Daddy." Zhang Xiaohan hesitated for a moment, but spoke anyway.

"What?" Zhang Hoe's footsteps matched his daughter's speed, and his steps were very small. He looked down at the soaring braids on his daughter's head with a gentle expression on his face.

"Father, where is outside Xiaotian Village?" This question is not surprising to a four-year-old child, and there is nothing excessive about it.

Zhang Hoe replied smoothly, "Outside Xiaotian Village is Shunshan Town."

"What about outside?" Zhang Xiaohan continued to ask.

"Outside is Yuyizhou." Zhang Hoe was puzzled, "Why did you remember to ask this?"

"Because, brother, they seem to only know the small farm. I asked them where it was outside, but they didn't know." Zhang Xiaohan was embarrassed. He had heard his elder brother nagging for so long before, but he didn't hear any more place names.

And from the words of the brothers, it seems that the biggest place these children know is the small farm, and no children seem to know what is beyond.

"So, what else do you want to know?" Zhang Hoe asked calmly, looking into the distance.

"Are these fields our own?" Zhang Xiaohan asked vigorously, "Should we pay rent for farming? Who is in charge of the small farm?" Why haven't my brothers mentioned the state agency?Originally, I wanted to ask about the emperor's surname, the history of the country, the terms of the law, etc., but then I thought it was too strange for a four-year-old girl to ask this, so I didn't ask.

Zhang Hoe looked into the distance suddenly with a very strong light in his eyes, but he kept answering his daughter, "Oh, these are all the responsibility of the ancestors in the village school, not only our Zhuangzi, but even the Ge family. Zhuang, Sunjiazhuang, Hujiazhuang, and Zhongjiazhuang, all the harvests are counted by the clan elders every year, the part that needs to be handed over to the public is deducted, and the rest is distributed according to the number of people in each village and household. Of course, those who harvest more will naturally You will get more things, and the village will not keep those who have less crops in vain."

"Huh?" Zhang Xiaohan looked at his father half-understanding, "Will those with less harvest be hungry?"

Zhang Hoe laughed, "Of course not, well, just like your Uncle Tie Li's family, their two elder brothers and the two elders you want to call the second uncle and uncle, just went out to find work in other places." Yes, only Uncle Tie Li was left alone to look after the house and work. Of course, the things they get every year will be less, but they can also earn a lot of good things when they find jobs outside. When they come back, they can use those things to buy Villagers go to exchange for rice grains and other things to eat and use, so they won’t go hungry.”

Zhang Xiaohan said "Oh", "It turns out that during the Chinese New Year last year, the person who came back from Uncle Tieli's house wasn't a guest? Was it Uncle Tieli's elder brother and sister-in-law?"

Zhang Hoe was taken aback, "No, it's the second grand-uncle and grand-aunt who came back."

"Liar!" Zhang Xiaohan really jumped up, "They are obviously not much older than father and mother, and they are only a little older than Uncle Tie Li."

Zhang Hoe grabbed his daughter who was jumping around with two chubby legs over her own strength, causing her center of gravity to be unstable, and her whole body turned backwards, "Why do you feel this way?"

The couple looked only in their 30s. Could it be that they got married and had children before they were ten years old?Zhang Tieli is 16 years old, but his oldest brother is ten years older than him!
Zhang Xiaohan almost blurted out, "Because, because, Brother Tie Li's parents should be as old as Grandma Qiao."

(End of this chapter)