pertwk Chapter 7 The whole family got to eat meat!
Chapter 7 The whole family got to eat meat!
Xu Yaomei tugged at her brother's hand, pulling him towards home: "Brother, hurry up, hurry up!"
Xu Chunsheng smiled and quickened his pace, following her lead.
When they reached the courtyard, the brother and sister stopped, and Xu Chunsheng placed the backpack on the long wooden bench.
Xu Yaomei looked up at Xu Chunsheng, her eyes crinkling with laughter, "Brother, I didn't expect you to actually buy meat today!"
Before Xu Chunsheng could speak, his mother, who had already heard the commotion, came out. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the meat in Xu Chunsheng's hand, leaving no room for her son.
"Chunsheng, why did you buy so much meat? Cured meat is more expensive than fresh meat, you must have spent a lot of money!"
"Not much. The Ophiopogon japonicus sold for a good price today, and I saw there was still some left when I got back, so I bought some." Xu Chunsheng handed the meat to his mother and then asked, "Aren't Dad and sister back yet?"
"I know, I know." A small hand rose up between the two.
Xu Chunsheng bent down, picked up his youngest sister, and gently pinched her little nose. "What are they doing?"
"Sister's gone to cut grass, Dad's still digging ditches." Xu Yaomei hugged her brother's neck.
"How much did you sell? How's your brother doing at school?" Mrs. Xu took the meat, lifted it, and clicked her tongue. "This must be worth several yuan. Can you really earn this much selling Ophiopogon japonicus?"
"My younger brother is doing well at school. The teachers take good care of him. I gave him some money so he can come back during this monthly break."
"I was lucky this time selling Ophiopogon japonicus. I met a boss who was willing to pay a high price, and I made a total of eighteen yuan," Xu Chunsheng replied with a smile.
"My brother is so amazing!"
The youngest sister opened her mouth wide and looked down to count on her fingers to see how much eighteen was.
"Eighteen pieces, that's a lot?" Mrs. Xu exclaimed in amazement, and said with some interest, "Next time, I'll ask your dad to go dig some more."
Xu's mother felt a little regretful, thinking that if she were in better health, she could have gone with them.
"Okay, I'll talk to Dad about it later."
Xu Chunsheng agreed, but he knew in his heart that this would not work. Not only was there still a lot of work to be done in the fields, but there were also too many uncertainties about going into the mountains.
"The boss gave me their brigade's phone number and we agreed that I could buy Ophiopogon japonicus from him again next time," Xu Chunsheng continued.
"real?"
Mrs. Xu was overjoyed and couldn't stop smiling.
For a moment, Xu's mother forgot to put the meat down, and just kept calculating to herself: "Eighteen yuan a time, thirty-six yuan a time, and if we sell it five or six times, we'll have over a hundred yuan. That's enough for my younger sister's tuition for the second half of the year, my third child's living expenses, the family's allowance for next year, and the money for your sister's wedding and your own wedding. Maybe all of that will be taken care of."
"Mom, you're thinking too far ahead. We should just make more so that you and Dad can have an easier time."
As he spoke, Xu Chunsheng took the meat from his mother's hand, went to the kitchen, placed it on the cutting board, picked up a cleaver, and asked Xu Yaomei, who had followed him, "Yaomei, which piece would you like to eat?"
"My little sister wants to eat lean meat."
Xu's mother came over and took the kitchen knife, then reached for the meat, saying, "Keep the meat; we can eat it when we change jobs and start farming later."
"Don't!"
"Mom, I promised my little sister I'd cut off a piece to try today."
Hearing this, Xu Yaomei's pouting lips curved into a smile again, and she even walked to the stove, saying, "Brother, let me start the fire."
Seeing this, Xu's mother stopped arguing, picked up a knife, and carefully cut off a piece of cured meat about an inch thick, preparing to hang it on the roof beam.
Xu Chunsheng took the knife from his mother's hand. "That's too little. Cut some more."
Xu Chunsheng raised his knife to cut it in half.
Xu's mother quickly stopped her, saying, "Just a little bit, just a little bit, save it for when we're making corn later."
Xu Chunsheng watched as his mother carefully cut off a piece of meat about the thickness of a fingernail, and also carefully cut off a little bit of lean meat from the side. He felt a pang of sadness in his heart. He could only think to himself that he should buy meat more often so that his family wouldn't have to count every bite of meat they ate.
"Go to the bend and see how your dad is doing. Call him back for dinner when it's almost done." Seeing that Xu Chunsheng was standing there wanting to say something, Xu's mother told him to go check on the field.
Watching her son's departing figure, Xu's mother couldn't help but smile: "That's wonderful. My son has become sensible. He knows how to earn money for the family and he also knows how to care for others."
Xu Chunsheng walked along the path, thinking that he still didn't have enough money and needed to find a way to earn more.
Collecting scrap?
This is a quick way to make money, but you simply can't do it on your own two legs.
Working as a laborer?
Regardless of whether my current idle state allows me to work, two or three yuan a day is not enough to solve my family's difficulties.
"Got it!" Xu Chunsheng's face relaxed.
……
"Dad, where did you plant the wild seedlings yesterday? I didn't see them on the road." Xu Chunsheng picked up a hoe and followed his father to the furrows in the field.
"Plant three corn cobs over there. Wild seedlings grow slowly, plant them further away." Father Xu straightened up, leaning on the hoe handle as he spoke. "After you've dug four or five rows, leave one row empty and plant corn."
Mr. Xu is an old farmer. He had seen other people plant lilyturf a few years ago and knew that to plant lilyturf, you need to make furrows and plant it row by row. There are five furrows for lilyturf on each ridge, and then leave one row empty to plant some corn.
Ophiopogon japonicus prefers shade, so when the corn grows tall, it can provide shade for the corn, achieving the same result at the same time.
Before long, the father and son had finished ridged the land.
"You take the hoe and go back first. I'll gather this grass and carry it back to feed the pigs."
As he spoke, Xu's father was about to pick up the grass that had been left on the side of the furrow.
In March, the grass in the fields began to grow. When people turned the soil, they would pile the grass aside and carry it home to feed the poultry, which didn't take much effort.
Now that we've finally started raising pigs at home, we can naturally make use of this grass.
"You go first, I'll pick it up." Xu Chunsheng handed the hoe in his hand to his father.
Mr. Xu was somewhat surprised that his son had become a completely different person in the past two days. First, he bought piglets on credit, then he went to dig up Ophiopogon japonicus, and now he was even taking the initiative to do chores.
In the past, Xu Chunsheng would never volunteer to do these things. He would only do something if he was asked two or three times. He was a bit lazy, but at least he hadn't gone astray. So, his family would do some small things themselves to save themselves some trouble.
As soon as the two stepped into the courtyard, they saw Xu Yaomei following her eldest sister excitedly, saying she wanted to help feed the pigs, and that her second brother had bought meat today...
Upon hearing this, Mr. Xu was also astonished. He then remembered to ask Xu Chunsheng how much money he had made. Hearing Xu Chunsheng's answer, his tired face broke into a smile.
Mr. Xu was delighted, smacking his lips, "It's really a great find, but these are the busiest times of the year..."
Before Xu's father could finish speaking, Xu Chunsheng understood what his father meant. "Dad, it's too much effort to dig it up yourself. The amount I brought back yesterday was from a whole patch of Ophiopogon japonicus I found in the mountains. Wild ones grow sparsely, and you might not get this much even after a whole day of work. Besides, they don't fetch a good price in town..."
Xu's father interrupted him, "Alright, you're an old man in your forties, you still know these things. I was just saying." He then put down the hoe.
The dinner table.
It was the same cold dish of houttuynia cordata as yesterday, along with a plate of pickled vegetables, but the stir-fried shepherd's purse with eggs in the middle was replaced with stir-fried cured pork.
The piece of meat, though not large, was thinly sliced by Xu's mother. With the addition of garlic leaves, each slice of meat looked translucent and glistening, so tempting that it was hard to look away. The aroma of the cured meat, mixed with the scent of garlic leaves, wafted into one's nose, making one's mouth water.
Xu Yaomei stared intently at the table, inhaling the aroma in the air, swallowing hard, eagerly anticipating the meal.
The older sister was serving rice, and although she was also dazzled by the aroma, she couldn't help but laugh when she saw her younger sister like this, and was just about to tease her.
Xu's mother brought over a bowl of soup and called out, "Dad, stop chatting and hurry up and wash your hands to eat!" Her voice was filled with joy.
As soon as Mr. Xu entered the house, he was surprised by the dishes on the table. "Wow, these dishes are really good today. We should be happy. Erwa is the hero today. Have a few more bites later."
The group ate their dinner with greasy lips and even drank the soup clean.
Actually, this soup is just boiled cabbage. It's just that after stir-frying the meat, there was still some oil left in the pot, and I didn't want to wash it off, so I added some water, brought it to a boil, and then added some cabbage. So there are only a few specks of oil on the surface of the soup.
However, even this little bit of oil is a rare treat for the Xu family now.
After the meal, Xu's father called Xu Chunsheng to sit and rest by the courtyard.
"Have you spent all the money on the 'meat coupons'?"
Xu's father knew that the last meat coupons in the family had been given to Xu Chunsheng yesterday. "After we finish these few days of work, you and I will go to town to work as laborers."
We haven't delivered any pigs in the past two years, and these two jin are the only meat coupons we have left. Pigs take a while to grow up, so if we want to eat meat later, we'll have to go to the market to buy expensive meat.
So, Mr. Xu was a little worried. "Your uncle told me yesterday that someone from town is coming to repair the factory next month and they need to hire people. They pay three yuan a day, including lunch."
Xu Chunsheng refused; he couldn't remember if this had happened in his past life.
"Dad, I have an idea, would you like to hear it?"