Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

"Sew a bag, it will be useful for grabbing Galaha. This is the cloth my mother and I asked for. It took a lot of effort to grind it out." Yumei muttered. Housewives at this time generally regarded the cloth head as very important. You must know that it is a good thing for patching. There are women with dexterous hands who can use very small rags to make small cushions or mattress tops. How can I be willing to play with my children?

"Just be content. I don't know why my aunt feels sorry for this little cloth. These are all good things, so I let you play with them." Jinghan laughed at Yumei.

"By the way, Jinghan, let's go pick dates in a few days, okay? Someone comes to pick them every year. I heard they make wine or something. A pound can be sold for three pennies. You can get as much as you want. Let's go pick monkeys. It's on the legs, it's almost cooked." Yumei thought of this and quickly told Jinghan.

Jinghan was very happy after hearing this. Of course making money is a good thing. "Okay, then let's go there one day and have a look. Do we have to wait for others to harvest them before we can pick them?"

"Well, it's coming soon. I heard from my elder brother that those people should come at this time every year." Yumei nodded.

Jinghan sat at Lin's house for a while, and she and Yumei decided to go pick dates, and then went home. Mrs. Xue was cooking at home, and Jinghan quickly stepped forward to help. "Mom, it seems you're not the one cooking today?"

"Your second aunt is out again. At this time, you can't just wait for her. It's more serious to make the rice quickly." Mr. Xue was busy in front of the pot.

Mrs. Chen also came over, "This second daughter-in-law, she doesn't know what she wants to do this day. She doesn't even come back to cook." As she said this, she picked up the pancakes from the other pot.

The food was all cooked and the table was placed outside. Zhixin and the old man came back from the fields and everyone ate together. Before lunch was finished, a woman came in from outside, about the same age as Xue, "Uncle Xu, aunt, brother Xu, sister-in-law, you are all here."

"She's Stone's Wife. Come and sit down. Have you eaten? If not, let's have some together." Ms. Chen quickly asked her to sit down.

"Aunt, you don't have to work anymore. I've had dinner. I came here today to ask Brother Xu if he has any time these days. My family is building a house, and I want to ask him to come over and help with the work for a few days. And sister-in-law, can you do it? Are you going to help with the cooking?" Shitou's wife is the second daughter-in-law of the Wang family in Dongtou.

"Your family wants to build a house? Don't you have a house to live in?" Ms. Chen asked puzzledly.

"We have just separated our families. My eldest brother and his wife are living with my parents, and we are going to build another house. The place has been selected, and we will start construction when we have enough manpower. Why don't we ask my brother and sister-in-law for help?" Shitou's wife said.

"It's okay if we separate. You can live your own life, whatever you want. There's not much work these days, so let Zhixin go over and help you do it for a few days. Boss and wife, please go over and help. "If your food is good, you won't be able to stop anyone in this village from doing anything." The old man agreed after hearing this.

"Thank you, Uncle Xu. I'll go back first. There's still a lot of work at home." Stone's wife said and left.

"This Shitou couple is a good couple. They will live well in the future after they separate their families. I don't want the eldest son of his family to be lazy all day long. Just watch, there will be times when the couple will regret it in the future." Mrs. Chen was there. Said. "Okay, we have to help with this. Mei Lin, just go and cook for her family for a few days. I'm at home. Besides, Jingya and Huixin can also help, so it's okay."

After everyone finished eating, they cleared the table together. Zhixin and the old man went back to the house to lie down for a while, waiting for the sun to be less harsh before going to work in the fields. Xue and Jingya were sewing in the house. Jinghan had nothing to do and lay down to sleep for a while.

The next day, Zhixin and his wife went to Wang's house to help. Jinghan was restless. After feeding all the pigs and chickens at home, she also went to watch others build a house. It turns out that the houses here are generally made of adobe, but Shitou's family did not prepare adobe, so they had to build a house made of loess. Clamp it up with wooden boards, then pour loess mixed with grass into it, and then use the wood to smash it down hard. The more honest you are, the better. After all the soil on this layer is pounded, remove the wooden boards and pound the soil all the way up. Just put a layer of mud on the outside of the smashed wall. Of course, there are many pillars inside the wall, otherwise it won't work at all.

The Shitou family's house was built very quickly. It took about five or six days to smash all the walls. The carpenter has already finished the beams and other things, so he chooses a day to install the beams. On the day when the beam was installed, in addition to the people who originally came to help, many people came. Everyone worked together and quickly raised Liang Zhen to the top of the house. Someone tied a red cloth with copper coins on the beam. When the time came, someone lit the firecrackers that had been hung long ago. Someone also sprinkled candies below. At this time, all the children went up to grab the candies. Jinghan was very strong, so she pushed the boy in front of her away and picked up two pieces of candy. One piece was put into his mouth and the other was kept. Wenxuan also grabbed two pieces and ate one, but was reluctant to eat the other and put it in his pocket.

After watching the excitement, the two siblings went home together. When they got home, Jinghan gave his piece to Jingya, but Jingya didn't want it and gave it to Wenxuan. "Sister, just eat it, I have another piece here." Wenxuan stuffed the candy into Jingya's mouth, and Jingya ate it.

After the beam is installed, there is not much work left. Shitou can slowly do it by himself, so there is no need for help. When Ms. Xue came home, she remembered that she wanted to go to the town to interview the doctor, so one morning, she went to the town with several women in the village.

Jinghan didn't care about that. She only knew that the jujube harvester was coming, and this year it was still three cents a pound. This was not low, so many children in the village went to pick dates.

This dianzi, as the name suggests, is meant to grow in dianzi. It just so happened that the place where we went to pick monkey legs last time was a patch of Dadianzi, and everyone went there to pick Dian dates. When I got there, I saw that the small trees, which were not very tall, were full of small blue-purple fruits. These were jujubes. Everyone was carrying baskets and quickly found a tree and started picking. Ripe jujubes are dark purple, and the pulp is full of purple juice. This thing is sour and sweet, and has always been a favorite of children. They pick a few and put a few in their mouths. You don't need to bite hard, just sip it gently with your tongue, and the sweet and sour juice inside will come out, with a slight bitter taste, which makes it taste particularly good. However, if you eat too much of this food, it will easily stain your tongue purple and black.

The jujube fruit is not big, about as long as a person's little finger, and thinner than the little finger. It is not easy to pick. The person who collected it also said that there should be no green fruits, branches or leaves, so you have to be even more careful. Fortunately, there are a lot of jujube trees here, so each person can pick six or seven kilograms in one afternoon. They all came out with dry food on their backs and didn't want to waste time going back and forth, so at noon everyone found a place to sit down and eat together. Opening the cloth bag, there was nothing more than a piece of pancake and a few pickles inside. Today Jinghan, Wenchang and Wenxuan are here, and the family brought them some dried fish. It's fried and crispy, and tastes particularly fragrant.

Jinghan took a few dried fish and gave them to Yumei, "Sister Yumei, try it." Yumei was not polite, took it and put it in her mouth, chewed it, "Well, it's so fragrant." After saying that, she took the remaining fish and gave it to Yumei. The lower part was given to his younger brother Ziwen.

After everyone finished eating, they started working again. They didn't stop until the end of the day. Everyone picked a lot. Everyone walked out of the meadow with baskets in their arms, and then walked to the middle of the village, where someone was waiting to collect. When we arrived at the place, the people who collected the dates were already waiting. They weighed them one by one, then counted the money and gave them the money. Jinghan picked twelve catties and got thirty-six cents, Wenchang picked less, eight catties, and Wenxuan picked nine catties, so they took the money. Everyone was very happy and walked home with smiles on their faces.

When we got home, Mrs. Xue happened to be talking to Mrs. Chen about the doctor from Renji Hall. "Mom, that doctor is really good-looking. I even inquired about it. His family is in the town. His surname is Tao, the second eldest son in the family. The eldest brother is married and lives with them. There is also a younger brother who is studying at home. A younger sister. My parents are not very old. Old Taotou is a craftsman and a carpenter, and he earns a lot of money every year, so the family is doing well, but the mother is a bit cunning. If Huixin marries her, she might not get along well with her. We will definitely get along well." This is what Xue found out one afternoon.

Mrs. Chen thought for a while, "This family is pretty good. It's just that the old mother-in-law is a little unsatisfied, but it doesn't matter. Just give in a little more. The relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is getting better and better. So, that day I will I told Matchmaker Qian that we have agreed to this marriage. If Huixin’s marriage is settled, I will feel relieved." Mrs. Chen decided to get married.

Just when Jinghan and the others returned home, "Grandma, mother, we are back. Wenxuan and I earned sixty yuan today." Jinghan started to show off as soon as she entered the house.

"Okay, that's good. You can buy three kilograms of meat. Our children are capable." Mrs. Chen was also very happy. Although the children did not give it to her after earning money, they were still in this family after all, right? No more running outside. "Keep your money carefully and save it to buy some food and use. Don't spend it randomly." Mrs. Chen warned.

"Hey, grandma, don't worry, we won't spend money recklessly. Mom, are you free tomorrow? Let's go together." Jinghan wanted her mother to go too.

"Okay, I don't have anything to do tomorrow, so I'll go with you." Mr. Xue agreed happily.

Wenchang on the side curled his lips and said, "Grandma, why does my mother never accompany us to go up the mountain?" As he spoke, tears fell. Mrs. Chen looked at it and quickly picked up Wenchang, "Wenchang is good, grandma will accompany you tomorrow."