Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

After eating dumplings on New Year's Eve, Jinghan became one year older. Children like the Chinese New Year the most because they don’t have to work and there are delicious food. However, the children of the Xu family still insist on practicing martial arts with Zhixin every morning, not to improve their kung fu, but to keep fit.

There is nothing much to do in the first month, it is just a time to visit relatives and friends. This year it was in the town and close to the village. With nothing to do that day, Mrs. Chen took her family back to the village to play. First, they went to the old man's cousin's house to sit, and then Jinghan led Jingya and the others to the Lin family. It’s been several years since I saw Yumei, and Jinghan missed her a little.

By coincidence, Yumei happened to be at home today, and when the girls met, they had endless things to say and chatted happily.

When Yumei saw Jinghan, she was naturally very affectionate and held Jinghan's hand and refused to let go. "Jinghan, you've grown a lot taller. You look better than before, but you're not too white. Is it too windy on the mountain?"

Jinghan was speechless in her heart. Why did people say she was evil when they saw her? Could it be that I am really black? "Sister Yumei, am I really dark? Why do you all say that when you see me?"

As soon as everyone heard Jinghan's words, they all laughed. Yumei laughed the hardest and burst into tears. "Jinghan, it's not that you are very dark now, but you are not as fair as before. In fact, your complexion is very healthy now. Don't worry, we care about you too."

Jingya pursed her lips and smiled, "I told you to pay attention. You have to run out all day long. How about now?"

Yumei's mother came in from outside, carrying candies, melon seeds, hazelnuts and other things in her hands, "Come on, Jingya, Jinghan, you guys eat something quickly. This is really rare since you went up the mountain. Today at noon You’re eating at your aunt’s house and you’re not allowed to leave.” After saying that, he put the things on the kang and went out to prepare the meal.

"Auntie, please stop working, we are going to Grandpa's place for dinner later." Jinghan shouted. When they come back, if they don't have dinner with the grandpa, the old man will be very unhappy.

Yumeiniang didn't look back after hearing this and said, "Let your grandparents eat there, and you kids can eat here. Zixuan and Ziwen ran out to play. They will be back soon, and then they will eat with your family." Call the boys over together, the children will feel more comfortable together."

Just when Jinghan was about to say something more, she heard Zixuan's voice in the yard, "Wenhan, Wencheng, you can eat here at noon today. I guess Jinghan and the others are also here. I'll go tell Grandpa Xu later, We juniors eat together and don’t mix with the adults.”

While he was talking, people had already entered the room. Zixuan poked his head into the room and smiled. "How's it going? I said Jinghan and the others must be here. Okay, let's eat at my house for lunch. Mom, prepare something delicious for lunch. It's rare for Wenhan and the others to come."

Over there, Yumei Niang quickly agreed, "Okay, I've started to prepare. I just said, let them stay here, Jinghan still won't do it."

Zixuan smiled and said to Jinghan, "Jinghan, please stay here. It's rare for us to have a meal together. Didn't Ziwen and I often eat at your house before?"

Jinghan had no choice but to nod, "Okay, brother Zixuan, I'll listen to you then. Brother, tell me later that you won't eat at his place at noon." But go ahead and tell others. of.

"Okay, then I'll go over and talk." Wenhan is also willing to be here. It's so lively for the children to be together. Wenhan went out, and the remaining people were talking in the room. When Jingya saw Yumeiniang busy in the kitchen, she went over to help, and Jinghan and the others also went over.

"Okay, you all go and play quickly. I can do this bit of work myself. It's all ready-made and will be ready in a moment." Yumeiniang drove Jinghan and the others back without them.

Since she didn’t need help, Yumei took out Galaha, and then everyone played Galaha together. The boy didn't play much with these things, so he ran outside to build a snowman and have a snowball fight. For a time, the entire courtyard was filled with the children's laughter.

After lunch, Zhixin came over from his cousin and called all the children away. Before leaving, he specifically told Zixuan to go live with the Xu family after the school started. Yumeiniang heard what her man said, so she readily agreed.

Xu had a large family, so everyone used the ox-cart and Zhixiang's horse-drawn carriage. The men were all on the bullock carts, while the women were in the carriages, wandering back to the town.

Lu Binghao wanted to arrive in Anzhou before the 16th day of the first lunar month, so Zhixiang left with Wanting and the servants on the 16th day of the first lunar month. On the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, Xingjia led Zixuan to the Xu family. From then on, Zixuan lived in the Xu family with Wenhan and the others.

Logging started in the village on the 20th of the first lunar month, and the old man led Zhixin, Zhiming, Wencheng, Xue and Zhu back to the mountain. They are not only busy cutting, but also collecting more firewood. Of the remaining children, the boys all went to school, while the girls stayed at home and took care of the mushrooms. There aren't many mushrooms after the New Year. I can pick more than 30 kilograms every other day. The restaurant's business is not that booming, so it's just enough.

Time passed in a blink of an eye, and it was already March. After the Qingming Festival, Jinghan and Jingwan also went up the mountain. Jinghan was going to heat the tussah cocoons and hatch them. We made a lot this year, and there were 10,000 cocoons left. Jinghan wore all the cocoons and hung them densely throughout the room.

The incubation of this kind of cocoon is very critical. Last year, because she didn't know whether this thing was worth raising, Jinghan didn't pay much attention to it. Knowing that this thing can be paid for this year, Jinghan is more attentive than last year. She and Jingwan lived in this house, watching the temperature in the house every day and handling these cocoons carefully.

In early May, the silkworm moths finally emerged from their cocoons, and the whole family came to help Jinghan separate the male and female cocoons, then put them into baskets and hug them. The hatching was good this year and basically all came out. Because Jinghan paid great attention when selecting seed cocoons last year, the male to female ratio this year is better, basically one to one. Basically, five hundred pairs of silkworm moths are packed in one basket, so ten baskets are used. Fortunately, Zhixin already knew that there would be a lot of basket use this year, so at the beginning of spring, he made a lot of big baskets.

After the laid eggs hatch for about ten days, the little ant silkworms hatch out of their shells. The weather was good this year, so Jinghan started tying baskets early and moved all the ant silkworms to the oak forest in the north.

When ant silkworms climb the tree, they have more work. To prevent various birds and beasts from eating the tussah silkworms, the humidity in the forest must be maintained accordingly, and the silkworms must be constantly removed. The ant silkworms hatched in one basket have to be moved to more than 200 trees.

One day in early June, Zhixiang came back to see the silkworms Jinghan had raised. During the Chinese New Year, Jinghan once talked about raising silkworms. When Zhixiang and Lu Binghao arrived in Anzhou, he happened to be responsible for farmland water conservancy. Zhixiang followed him to visit the small village below. It was much warmer there than at home, but many places there were covered with stone mountains and the soil layer was very thin, making it impossible to grow food or other crops.

Lu Binghao was very anxious. He tried his best to make the people here live easier and faster. Zhixiang suddenly remembered the kind of tussah silkworms Jinghan had mentioned. He heard from Jinghan that in a slightly warmer place, tussah silkworms could be raised twice. There are many tussah trees in the villages near Anzhou, and the weather has warmed up early, so we should be able to raise tussah silkworms.

Zhixiang mentioned this matter to Lu Binghao. Lu Binghao was overjoyed and asked Zhixiang to go back to his hometown to see the specific situation of Jinghan's tussah cultivation. That's why Zhixiang came back.

When Zhixiang came back, he also brought back good news that Wanting was pregnant. When Mrs. Chen heard the news, she was very happy and quickly prepared a lot of things for Zhixiang to take back.

Zhixiang lived in the mountains for more than twenty days and finally saw tussah silkworms spinning cocoons. The Xu family worked hard for five or six days before collecting all the cocoons. This year Jinghan was more attentive than last year, so she was able to leave more than one million cocoons in total. This time, it was no longer a problem. The market place was filled with large baskets containing silkworm cocoons. Looking at the yellowish cocoons, Zhixiang felt quite confused. "Jinghan, can this thing really pull out silk? Can the silk be used?" He was unsure.

"Little uncle, just wait and see. I have already agreed with the Yue family that they will come to collect the cocoons. By the way, haven't I shown you the satin made from this kind of tussah silk? It's not better than the silkworm's. Not much difference. Also, this spring, the cocoons that emerged from the silkworm moths could not be extracted because the silkworms were bitten by the silkworm moths. However, I washed the silkworm cocoons with alkaline water and made two quilts. It's very warm." Jinghan talked about the uses of tussah silk. "This kind of silk is not as white as mulberry silk in color, and the silk is thick, but not much else."

Zhixiang had seen the piece of silk Jinghan mentioned, so he believed it quite a bit. He asked more questions about the number of eggs laid by silk moths, and Jinghan answered them one by one. In the end, Zhixiang decided to order 20,000 seed cocoons from Jinghan. It's only the end of June now, and it's still very hot over there in Anzhou. If we get it back, we should be able to raise a crop of autumn silkworms.

When the Xu family heard this, of course they supported Zhixiang. So I helped pick out 20,000 seed cocoons overnight, put them in a big basket, and covered them with some grass. Twenty thousand seed cocoons filled three full baskets.

Jinghan also kept 20,000 seed cocoons this time, and sold the rest to the Yue family for ten cents per catty, for a total of two hundred and eighty taels of silver.

Zhixiang still couldn't figure out the key to this breeding, so he had no choice but to ask Jinghan to follow him to Anzhou to help teach him the techniques. This was a good thing. The old man and others supported Jinghan in going there, so Jinghan followed Zhixiang to Anzhou.