bookcurios Chapter 202 Busy and fulfilling
Chapter 202 Busy and fulfilling
Chapter 202: Busy and fulfilling
Wei Nanxing has been in the provincial capital for two days and has not brought back any news.
Spring planting has begun in the village. The villagers get up at dawn, carrying hoes and seedlings, and walk to the fields in groups of three or two, chatting with each other.
A dozen workers from the Wei family also went to the fields to pull up seedlings and prepare for transplanting. A hundred workers from several neighboring villages who were recruited to dig ponds came into the village in groups, eating dry food and steamed buns in their hands, chatting and laughing all the way.
A few women were carrying water to water the vegetables. When they saw a large group of young men passing by, they gathered together to discuss the matter. Especially those who had daughters of marriageable age at home, they wanted to rush up and pull the young man they liked to question him.
The installation of the pressurized water well in the village has also begun. The craftsmen started working early in the morning. Cheng Li was standing by with a crutch, watching personally.
With hope for the future, the children in the village became more noisy. The little kids who couldn't do much work ran around everywhere and came to the well to join in the fun. Cheng Lizheng chased them away with his crutch.
The entire Chengjia Village is busy and fulfilling.
Cheng Shuang used a small room next to the entrance of the soap workshop as an office, put a desk in it, and customized a few locked cabinets to store things.
The Peng brothers learned some common characters from Wei Qinglang, and wrote down the number of soaps entering and leaving the warehouse every day, as well as the amount of raw materials used, and put them on the table. Cheng Pan came to keep accounts every day.
After making all these arrangements, Cheng Shuang stood at the gate of her yard, watching the busy villagers in the distance. She turned to her two cousins and said, "Qiuyan, Dongyun, the mustard greens in the fields are almost ready to be harvested. Go and notify the villagers who have planted them and ask them to pickle them when they have time. Someone will come to collect them once they are ready."
The two cousins nodded and ran off to do their business.
Wei Qinglang came out of the yard and said, "Let's put the recruitment of people for the soap workshop on hold until the spring planting is over. Everyone in the village is busy farming now."
Cheng Shuang nodded: "Well, the workshop is not urgent, spring planting is important."
As they were talking, Cheng Guqiu came back from the river carrying a basket. "Shuang'er, you said before that the pepper seedlings can be transplanted when they have two or three leaves. I've taken a look and they're basically ready."
Cheng Shuang nodded. "Yes, it's almost done. I'll go to the field and bring people over to transplant the seedlings later."
"How many acres of land can be planted with those pepper seedlings?" Wei Qinglang asked.
"About ten acres. I've read books, no more, no less."
Cheng Guqiu said that she would bring her two daughters to help in a while, then turned and went back.
Wei Qinglang said, "Didn't you say you wanted to go to the mountains? Leave the transplanting of peppers to me."
Cheng Shuang didn't expect that he still remembered what she said casually last night, so she said, "Okay, you take the people to plant peppers, and I'll go up the mountain."
Since we already have a whole mountain, many things can naturally be done without, but they cannot be without.
As the saying goes, it is better to be prepared than to be unprepared. Planning in advance can avoid the panic of cramming at the last minute and save the time cost of solving problems.
After breakfast, Cheng Shuang carried a bamboo basket and went up Yunxi Mountain alone.
The air on the mountain was fresh, with a hint of the fragrance of grass and trees. She walked slowly along the mountain path, scanning the surroundings, looking for a plot of land suitable for growing medicinal herbs.
"Ginseng likes shade and must be planted under the shade of trees."
Cheng Shuang walked and whispered to herself, "Astragalus is drought-resistant, so plant it in a sunny place. Angelica likes moist soil, so it needs to be near a water source..."
These herbs need a long time to grow in order to reach their medicinal value. After planting them, let them grow slowly. How long they can live is up to fate. Anyway, the whole mountain belongs to them.
After searching for about half an hour, he finally found a shady place with fertile soil. Cheng Shuang squatted down and dug it up with a stick, looked at it carefully, smelled it, and nodded with satisfaction.
This is a good piece of land, suitable for growing ginseng.
She recharged a few taels of silver into her mall account, and then directly bought thirty two-year-old wild ginseng seedlings. She squatted on the ground with a small shovel, and worked hard to dig holes to plant ginseng.
I didn't go down the mountain to eat at noon. I bought some food from the mall and continued to work. I planted astragalus in a sunny place and angelica near the water source.
After planting these, Cheng Shuang was so tired that his back and waist ached. He packed up and went down the mountain, preparing to plant something else another day.
Cheng Shuang did not go home directly, but went to the fields. Wei Qinglang was leading the workers in the fields to transplant pepper seedlings, and a hundred people digging ponds in the distance were also busy.
The pepper seedlings have grown to the height of a palm. The workers carefully planted them in the field at appropriate intervals. Those that have been planted look lush green.
Cheng Shuang turned around and ran to Wei Qinglang.
"How about you go to the mountain?" Wei Qinglang straightened up and asked when he saw her coming.
Cheng Shuang smiled and said, "I ran to the back of the mountain and planted some of them. I'll let them grow wildly and leave it to fate. I'll take whatever survives."
Wei Qinglang nodded and saw a thin layer of sweat on her forehead and a faint blush on her cheeks, probably from the sun. He pulled her sleeve and wanted to wipe the sweat off her face, but he only raised his hand halfway and then put it down again.
"The sun is strong right now, you can go back and rest, I'll be here for you."
"Okay, good luck! I saw some snails in the stream over there when I first came here. Can you pick some up and make stir-fried snails for us tonight?"
"Well, be careful in the water then."
Cheng Shuang turned and left, waving her hand behind her, "I know."
After walking for a while, Cheng Shuang met Peng Lao San on the road and greeted him, "Uncle Peng, how's the pond digging going?"
Peng Laosan said respectfully, "We're working non-stop. The soil here is relatively soft, so we can finish digging in half a month!"
Cheng Shuang nodded. "That's good, Uncle Peng. I'll have to trouble you to keep an eye on it over there."
Peng Laosan was flattered. "Boss, you are so kind. This is what I should do."
Cheng Shuang carried a bamboo basket and came to the stream where the snails were found. She took off her shoes and walked barefoot on the stones in the water. The cool stream water flooded over her ankles. She bent down and reached out to grab a handful of snails.
She put down the bamboo basket, threw the snails into it, and continued to bend down to pick them up.
While I was concentrating on catching snails, I suddenly heard a noise behind me.
Cheng Shuang looked back and saw five or six children from the village standing by the stream, staring at her curiously.
"Sister-in-law Wei San, what are you fishing for?" Cheng Xiaomai, who had pigtails, asked curiously.
Cheng Shuang smiled, raised the snail in her hand and shook it: "I'm picking up snails!"
"What are you picking up snails for? Are you taking them back to feed the chickens and ducks?"
"No." Cheng Shuang stood up. "Pick it up and fry it."
When the children heard this, their eyes widened. A chubby boy shouted, "Sister-in-law Wei San, snails are very fishy and contain sand. You can't eat them at all!"
Cheng Shuang laughed: "Who said that snails can't be eaten? It's because you don't know how to cook them. If they are cooked well, snails are delicious!"
"Really?" When the children heard this, they immediately became interested and gathered around.
Cheng Xiaomai was curious, "But my mother said this can only be crushed and fed to chickens. Can people really eat it?"
Cheng Shuang nodded and patiently explained, "First, place the snails you caught in clean water with salt and white vinegar and soak them for about an hour to allow them to spit out the sand.
Then, scrub the snail shells clean with a brush and blanch them in boiling water to remove the fishy smell. Finally, stir-fry them with chili peppers, minced garlic, ginger slices, and a little bit of white wine. It's incredibly fragrant and delicious!
The children drooled as they listened, looking at Cheng Shuang eagerly, "We want to eat it too."
Cheng Shuang was pleased with herself, "Then I'll make it tonight. Each of you can bring a small bowl to my house and I'll give it to you to try."
"Great!" The children cheered and shouted, "We'll help you pick it up too!"
"Then everyone, be careful and don't slip." Cheng Shuang reminded loudly.
The children took off their shoes, rolled up their trouser legs, and went into the water laughing and groping, putting the snails they picked up into Cheng Shuang's bamboo basket.
Soon, the bamboo basket was full. Cheng Shuang looked at the sky and said to the children, "Okay, we've caught enough. You can all go home first. When it gets dark, come to my sister-in-law's house and I'll share some snails with you."
The children put on their shoes and ran away happily.
Cheng Shuang also returned home carrying a heavy bamboo basket. She took a large wooden basin and placed it under the water well. She poured all the snails into the basin and filled it with clean water. She then added salt and white vinegar to the water to let the snails spit out the sand.