take a wife to support the family

Chapter 75

As the saying goes, people who have no long-term worries must have near-term worries.

An ordinary country woman can think of the farm work that will be done at home in two months, and prepare in advance, which is a great foresight.Most people only know what to eat tomorrow, they can only see the things in front of their eyes, they have endless disputes with their sisters-in-law and neighbors, and they have never heard of the word "foresight".

Li Baihe was a educated person in her previous life. Although she did not pass the Juren examination like Master Liu, she is still a talented student who can be a teacher.During the slack days, other people would like to lie down and play all day long, write diligently and do what should be done according to experience, but she is thinking about her own situation.

It is different from other families. Others have land to grow food. Their family only grows a few melons and vegetables. Besides, the ten acres of land leased to Mr. Liu can produce some. Other than that, they can only take Money to buy food.

If there is a year of severe drought and severe flood, people like them have nowhere to buy food if they have money. That is to say, now that the weather is good and every household has surplus food, she can buy food.

These days, when the new wheat has just arrived and entered the warehouse, Lily plans to buy a few stones of new wheat.If we wait until the day when every household eats surplus grain, the price of grain will definitely be much higher than it is now, and it will be too late to buy grain at that time.

Buying grain is a big deal, Lily can't make decisions by herself, when she told Song Haonian, Song Haonian didn't realize it, and said: "You can buy whatever you want, we don't have a granary in our house, and the grain we buy is easy to go bad .”

Lily told him about the increase in food prices during the season of shortage of food, and Song Haonian thought about it, and he couldn't help laughing: "My wife is smarter!"

"Tell me, do you want to buy it?" Lily accepted all her husband's compliments and pushed him for an explanation.

Song Haonian said: "It's still the same sentence, where can I put the grain I bought?"

Lily said: "Let's dig a cellar and make it bigger. It can not only store food, but also store the last crop of melons and vegetables after the frost, so as not to be damaged by the snow outside."

Melons and vegetables can also be damaged by freezing. They look fine on the outside, but ice lumps form inside, and when boiled, they become mushy and taste bad. Such vegetables and vegetables can only be used to feed pigs.

Lily has another plan: the ten mu of land leased to Mr. Liu is all grown with sweet potatoes. Others don't know the yield of sweet potatoes, but she knows that it is very considerable. When the sweet potatoes arrive in a few days, it will be even more troublesome if there is no place to store them at home. , it is better to repair the cellar earlier, which will be convenient in the future.

Many country men may not know much about themselves, but they like to say that "women have long hair but short knowledge". Baby, when things go wrong, she will be beaten for fun.

Song Haonian is not such a person, he will listen to what Lily says makes sense, and if he thinks that there is something Lily can't do, he will tell her behind his back, and treat her seriously.

Since what Lily said was right, the young couple discussed to build a cellar, and Song Haonian agreed with Liu Sheng, the manager of the farm, to go home and do some work for a few days, and then go to the village when the rice is harvested.

He was paid by a long-term worker. In fact, the uncle who was promoted knew that he would not work for a long time. At the beginning, the uncle Sheng told his wife: "I asked him to work on the farm because of your face. It doesn't matter if he can't do well. Just don't mess around."

Song Haonian is able to do these days, Uncle Sheng is already impressed.He is a strong laborer in the village, and Liu Sheng is also very happy that he is capable. Hearing that he wanted to build a cellar for his family, he approved the matter with a wave of his hand.Then asked: "Can you repair the cellar?"

Almost every household in Qingliu Town has a cellar. Song Haonian had repaired it once or twice with his father, so he has a general idea of ​​what it looks like, but he is a little vague when it comes to how to repair it.

When Liu Sheng asked, Song Haonian said happily, "I'm worried about this matter, please ask Uncle Sheng to guide me."

Liu Sheng said with a smile: "You are young after all, you are still young, you still have to learn."

So he asked Song Haonian to go to the cellar on the farm first, what kind of storage is there for food, what kind of storage for melons and vegetables, which kind is the warmest, and which kind keeps the longest.

He also instructed him to learn from a few farmers who are used to building cellars, and learn how to repair walls, how to repair the ground, how to strengthen the support...

Repairing the cellar is quite a complicated matter, and Liu Sheng made it a little bit more organized: planning the appearance, preparing materials, arranging manpower to do the work and cooking, and thinking about how to repair it.

Song Haonian has learned a lot and is very grateful to Liu Sheng and Zhuang Hu.These experiences are not only useful for repairing the cellar, but also for his plan to repair the house this winter.

When he returned home, Song Haonian was already thinking about it, and he was more organized in his work. He first counted the urgent materials and prepared everything, and then invited Liu Yi and a group of brothers to come over to help repair the cellar.

You can buy materials that are not in a hurry, and ask while you are working, and collect them at the right time.

Liu Yi is idle these days, so he asks his brothers who are busy to go and help Song Haonian.Song Dagui also came to have a look when he heard the news, and said: "It's such a big battle, I still think that the house will be repaired in the new year."

Song Haonian said with a smile: "Now is not the time to build a house, or this winter, or next spring, I will definitely have a house, and then I will invite all the brothers to help!"

In a few days it will be time to harvest rice. At this time, it is not enough for one person to split the house in half, so small tasks such as cellars can be completed without taking many days.

Everyone has more or less built cellars at home, and Song Haonian has learned a lot of cellar scriptures, and he talked about his plans one by one. Liu Yi also praised: "You have also absorbed some of the wisdom of your younger siblings, and you are even more clever. Woke up."

All the brothers burst into laughter, Song Haonian blushed, but fortunately he was tanned after harvesting the wheat, so it was not obvious, everyone just laughed once.

Because Qingliu Town is adjacent to the Baishui River and the groundwater level is high, it is not possible to dig deep into the ground when building a cellar. It has to be built in a half-cave style, with half underground and the other half leaning against hills or sills. Attics can also be built with earthen walls and straw. of.

Lily told Song Haonian about the sweet potato in advance: "I'm afraid this thing is the same as cabbage and radish, it has to be hidden in the ground."

Cabbage, radish and other watery things are most afraid of the northwest wind, and they will become numb and stiff after a few days of blowing, and they will become unpalatable at all.

In her previous life, Lily saw potatoes and sweet potatoes stored at home, but she was also afraid of the wind. It is best to store them in a cellar that can keep moisture and heat insulation, so that they can be stored all winter.

They're going to build a composite cellar.

First dig six feet into the ground, and then dig around to make a pocket-shaped cellar with a small mouth and a big bottom. A few pillars are erected from the ground up to prevent it from collapsing, and the mouth is sealed with a wooden board.

The cellar below should not be too dry, with a certain amount of moisture, which is just right for fresh vegetables.

Then start the attic from a height of two feet above the ground. The foot of the lower wall of the attic is drawn inward, forming an oblique angle with the ground. The walls are smoothed to prevent rats, snakes and insects from crawling into the warehouse along the wall.

The rammed earth wall is more than two feet thick, covered with thatched grass on the top, and the wall is plastered with white ash. It is dry and ventilated, and it will not be affected by rain. It is just used to store food.

The attic and the underground cellar are separated by wooden boards, and several layers of white ash are applied on the ground to prevent the damp from affecting the attic.

The doors and windows of the warehouse are small, and the bamboo strips on the windows are woven into small lattices, which can be ventilated and mice cannot get in.Double-layer wooden doors, with thick hay curtains hanging inside and outside, to keep out the wind and keep warm, so as not to lose air and freeze the melons, vegetables and food inside in winter.

Now that there is a plan, it will be built according to the plan. Song Haonian and a few brothers who came to help chose an open space near the house, and invited Mr. Yin and Yang to watch the day, and pick a day that is suitable for groundbreaking to start construction.

Li Caifeng had to prepare drinking water and food for these people every day at home, and Li Caifeng brought Xing'er to help her. Speaking of the weather being too hot, their workers were afraid that they would not be able to eat, so they wanted to make some vegetable tofu.

Hearing these words, Li Caifeng's mouth watered first, as if she had eaten sour and cold vegetable tofu, and Li Caifeng laughed out loud at the small expression: "You also get greedy sometimes!"

Xing'er clapped her hands beside her: "Aunt Lily is greedy!"

Her mother likes to say that she is greedy, and now Aunt Lily is like her, which makes her feel very interesting.

Li Caifeng didn't have beans at home, so Li Caifeng went home and fetched a few catties of soybeans, and told Lily to be polite: "You can repair things here, and the theory is that it is not too much to hold a banquet and receive gifts. What are these catties of beans?"

Sending food and meat to relatives and friends who are building houses is also part of the rural gift.

Pour the soybeans into the bamboo plaque, remove the sand and shriveled beans, wash them with water, and then soak them in clear water. The beans that float to the surface of the water are also shriveled inside and cannot be eaten, so they have to be picked out.

After soaking for more than a day, the beans absorb water and swell to two or three sizes before, the color becomes lighter, and each one is plump and attractive, which can be used to grind soybean milk.

I borrowed two stone mills from a neighbor's house. The mill fans are not big, and the upper one has a wooden handle, which can be pushed by hand.The lower one is slightly larger, with a groove, just enough to guide the ground soybean milk into the basin.

The stone mill is stable on the edge of the table. A basin is placed under the table. The soaked soybeans are also placed on the table. A spoonful of water and a spoonful of beans are used to grind evenly with hands, and white soybean milk is quickly ground.

Li Caifeng and Li Caifeng took turns to grind the mill, and the one who didn't grind the mill went to scoop the soybeans. Xing'er was so greedy that she wanted to try it too, but Li Caifeng told her not to make trouble, which made the little girl feel wronged.

Seeing whether Xing'er was going to cry or not, Lily teased her: "What's wrong with our Xing'er? This little mouth is upturned. Auntie's house happened to have a hook for hanging oil bottles. Xing'er stayed here to hang oil for Auntie." bottle!"

Xing'er grinned amusedly, then quickly kept a straight face, expressing her dissatisfaction with her mother.Li Caifeng sighed: "Little grinder! Come on, I'll play with you."

Xing'er started to push for a while, she was small and weak, the soy milk she pushed out was not uniform at all, and there were lumpy pieces, fortunately the two adults loved her and didn't dislike her for making trouble.

(End of this chapter)