Chapter 34
Now that they are busy, the two of them are no longer bound to work all the time. The next tea market is about to open, and Lin Zhen has to practice tea frying before then, so the work in the fields falls on Ji Congzhe.
After returning from plowing the fields that day, Lin Zhen was frying tea in the house. Ji Congzhe took out the grain seeds and poured them into a basin filled with water to germinate. He then uncovered the cloth wrapping the gourd seeds and found that the gourd seeds had sprouted. .
He followed what Chen Hu taught him, dug a few handfuls of soil and put it in the basin, and then buried the gourd seeds in it. Within a few days, the gourd seeds turned into gourd seedlings, with a few tender leaves on the thin rhizomes.
The method of accelerating the germination of grain seeds is similar to that of gourd seeds. After a few days, the seeds will also open and the green buds will curl up in the cracks.
So today he had to transplant the gourd seedlings to the back hill and sow the grain seeds into the fields.
They were still having breakfast when Chen Hu came next door.
"Lin Zhen Xiaoji, have your grains been soaked?"
"It's soaked." Ji Congzhe hurriedly took the grain seeds wrapped in cloth from the stairwell and showed them to Chen Hu. "Brother Hu, take a look. Is it a success?"
"Yes, the buds have sprouted. Then you two will go and prepare the rice field tomorrow so that you can cultivate the grain seeds."
Lin Zhen nodded, "We are planning to go today."
Chen Hu said to Lin Zhen again, "I have inquired for you. The old master said that there happens to be wood during this time and he can start making it for you."
Ji Congzhe was confused when he heard this, and asked Lin Zhen, "What are you doing?"
Lin Zhen replied, "I asked Brother Hu to help me find out about making a tea stove."
Ji Congzhe said "Oh". Lin Zhen had indeed chatted with him a while ago. The main reason is that they have been using the stove to fry tea, which consumes too much firewood. If it is a tea frying stove, it has good sealing and can use charcoal directly. Especially as the second wave of tea-picking season is coming, Lin Zhen's technology has also improved a lot, and they are in urgent need of a tea-frying stove.
Lin Zhen asked Chen Hu how much it would cost to make a tea stove.
"With stove and iron pot, it's twenty-two yuan. If you want it, come with me to find the master tonight."
Lin Zhen nodded, "Okay, I'll go with you tonight."
After breakfast, Ji Congzhe put the sprouted grain seeds into the lead bucket, picked up the hoe and was about to go out. Lin Zhen asked him, "You really don't need me to go with you?"
Ji Congzhe waved his hand, "I can do the technical work of plowing. The whole rice field is not a problem, okay? Just stay at home and fry the tea leaves. Whether the tea leaves can be sold at a high price depends on you."
There is no need to work hard on the whole acre of rice field. Use a hoe to pile up the mud into a thick ridge in a quarter, so that the grain seeds can be gathered in one place.
Ji Congzhe took off his shoes, rolled up his trouser legs, stepped into the mud and slowly pushed the mud to one place with a hoe. After working for half an hour, he built a long mud ridge and then grabbed a handful of grain seeds and spread them evenly. On the soil ridge, in about ten days, the grain seeds can be cultivated into seedlings.
After sowing the grain seeds, he took a shower in the ditch and caught a glimpse of the eldest sister in the next field burying her head on the slope next to the field path, picking something from a clump of plants with her fingers.
Affected by poverty, Ji Congzhe is now particularly curious about wild things, especially now that the thin bamboo shoots have grown into thin bamboos, and the family is short of vegetables. There are loaches everywhere in the meat dishes, but the vegetables have not been touched for a long time. Ji Congzhe feels that if this happens again When they got down, both he and Lin Zhen smelled earthy, so they must not let go of anything that had the chance to enter their mouths.
So he quickly put on his shoes and went to take a look.
"Sister, what are you doing collecting leaves?"
The eldest sister said to him while picking the young leaves on this shrub, "I was passing by and saw that the green grass leaves here are quite tender, and I plan to pick some back to make grass tofu."
"Tofu?" Ji Congzhe picked a young leaf suspiciously, put it to his nose and smelled it. There was only the fresh smell of leaves on it. "How can I make tofu from these leaves?"
After the eldest sister patiently explained it to him, Ji Congzhe decisively washed the lead bucket in the ditch, then stood next to the eldest sister and started picking.
Lin Zhen saw him coming back with a bucket of leaves and curiously asked, "What are you doing picking so many leaves?"
Ji Congzhe said mysteriously, "I'll make you tofu for lunch."
After that, he took the bucket to the well to clean the leaves, then returned to the house and got the washbasin.
Lin Zhen just finished making tea and sat on the side to watch.
Ji Congzhe grabbed a handful of leaves, twisted them hard with both hands, and squeezed out the dripping green juice. Lin Zhen frowned as he watched.
"Is this really edible?"
Ji Congzhe replied casually, "Try it, maybe it tastes good."
After a while, he twisted half of the washbasin. He threw away the leaf residue, put the washbasin on the table and put it away. He turned to Lin Zhen and said, "I'm going to plant gourds first. It will take two hours for this pot to be ready." Into tofu."
After Ji Congzhe finished speaking, he carried the washbasin filled with gourd seedlings and carried the hoe to the back mountain. The green beans and cowpeas he planted earlier had also sprouted. It is estimated that they will mature at about the same time as the gourds. Then he will support those together with seeds, to increase production.
He used his hands to dig out small holes in the soil ridges he had prepared in advance, or two in a row. Then he dug out the gourd seedlings in the basin, including the seedlings and mud, and transplanted them into the dug soil pits. , and then filled it with soil.
When I returned home after planting the gourd seedlings, the grass tofu was almost solidified, like green jelly, crystal clear and elastic in the basin.
They had never seen this thing before, but the two families next door had eaten it. Aunt Yang saw Ji Congzhe making grass tofu and said she would like to try some.
At first, Lin Zhen was resisting and disgusted, but when his neighbors said that grass tofu was not only edible, but also tasted refreshing, he let go of his burden.
In this way, Lin Zhen stopped by and called Chen Hu and Wang Xiaoyan.
Ji Congzhe took a kitchen knife and made a few cuts in the basin, just like cutting tofu, shoveling it out squarely and putting it into a bowl.
There are many ways to eat this among the neighbors. Ji Congzhe and Lin Zhen held their bowls and listened as they told them to add this seasoning and then that seasoning.
Until Wang Xiaoyan said, "I haven't had a good appetite recently. I want to eat something refreshing. I'll get some toothpaste. Xiaoji, do you want to try it?"
"No, no." Ji Congzhe waved his hands in horror.
Then, he and Lin Zhen watched in stunned silence as Chen Hu squeezed a piece of toothpaste into the green grass tofu.
As a result, Uncle Yang said another sentence, which shocked the young couple's jaws.
He asked Aunt Yang to go to the stove and mix some plant ash for him.
Weird ways of eating open the door to a new world.
In the end, Ji Congzhe and Lin Zhen chose to pour some vinegar and some sugar, which is the most normal way of eating.
Unexpectedly, it tastes just like jelly. It is cool and moist when you eat it. The sour and sweet taste is refreshing. The weather is hot. In the future, this kind of grass tofu can be used as a good way to relieve the heat. It would be better if it can be chilled. .
Dinner is still loach, and only loach. Now they have cooked all kinds of loach, steamed, fried, pan-fried and stir-fried. In the end, they just settled down to having a dish on the table.
Before Lin Zhen could swallow his rice, Chen Hu came over and called him to the carpenter's house. Lin Zhen had no choice but to put down the bowl and chopsticks, hurriedly went upstairs to get the money and followed Chen Hu.
After talking for a long time, by the time he came home, Ji Congzhe had already finished washing and was lying on the bed.
Lin Zhen put the remaining money back in the drawer, but did not go to bed. He sat at the table next to him and wrote.
Ji Congzhe turned over and asked him, "What are you writing?"
Lin Zhen held the pencil and "keeping accounts."
"Have you decided on your tea-making stove?"
"deal."
"How much money is left now?"
Lin Zhen pulled out the drawer and counted the banknotes: "Fifty-three."
Ji Congzhe asked again, "How long does it take to build a tea stove?"
"The old master said it will only take a week."
"That's not bad. It's just in time for the second batch of tea. Don't forget it. Go to bed quickly. If you forget it, our money won't be a cent more."
Lin Zhen said, "I have to calculate our future expenses."
"What expenses can we have? Now everything we eat and drink comes from the fields. I guess no one in the whole village saves money more than we do."
"I mean, what you don't need now, you will need in the future." After Lin Zhen finished writing in the notebook, he handed it to Ji Congzhe to read.
There were several items listed on it. Ji Congzhe read it and said, "Crock pot? What are you buying a crock pot for?"
"After a while, the rapeseed flowers in the field will be ripe, and we have to squeeze rapeseed oil. Chen Hu has seen our rapeseed flower fields and estimates that we can squeeze a lot of rapeseed oil this year. Our earthen jars at home only have two ounces of lard. Only, it's not enough, I have to buy a few big ones."
Lin Zhen continued, "There are also baskets. There are masters in the village who are good at weaving. We will have to weave a few baskets to hold the rice after it is harvested. In addition, I also plan to buy some vegetable seeds, which can be made into dry goods for a year." It can be eaten in all seasons, so we won't have no vegetables on the table."
Ji Congzhe: "You have to ask the two companies next door about this. I only know that cowpeas can be dried or pickled. Then you can buy a few more earthen jars. Maybe we will have to pickle a lot of things in the future." "
"Well, I haven't thought of anything else right now, do you have anything to add?"
Ji Congzhe thought for a while and asked Lin Zhen to hand him the pencil. He turned over and used the mattress as a table, lying on it and started writing. Lin Zhen got up from the stool and looked closer.
I saw him writing in the notebook: 2-4 cotton-padded jackets, 2 quilts, 2-4 cotton sweaters, 2-4 pairs of cotton shoes, 2 pairs of slippers, etc.
Lin Zhen twitched his cheek muscles, "Is that much?"
"More? It's still too little for me. Didn't you ask me to replenish it? Besides, I didn't write it down randomly. These are all necessary items for the future. I don't want to suffer from the cold this winter."
"All right."
Ji Congzhe raised his eyebrows and said jokingly, "What? You are willing to buy several towels, but you are reluctant to part with normal necessities?"
Lin Zhen's cheeks flushed as he squeezed her, "I'm not reluctant, okay, I'll listen to you."
Ji Congzhe grinned and said, "What a good man who loves his wife. Now, go to bed."
He threw the pencil notebook on the table.
Not long after Lin Zhen went to bed and turned off the lights, the light next door came on, and the light penetrated into their house through the gaps in the wall panels.
Suddenly I heard Wang Xiaoyan retching, and it was probably Chen Hu who made a flurry of noises, followed by whispers over there.
Ji Congzhe asked Lin Zhen with a guilty conscience, "Is there something wrong with eating the grass tofu I made today? Are you okay?"
Lin Zhen shook his head on the pillow, "They probably added the toothpaste themselves. They probably have gastroenteritis."
Ji Congzhe breathed a sigh of relief, "That's okay. I didn't expect that Uncle Yang's intestines and stomach are quite hard. It's fine even if I add plant ash. Fortunately, I didn't listen to Wang Xiaoyan and add toothpaste to it, otherwise I would be the one who vomited tonight."